Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan: Azerbaijan wants to eliminate the OSCE Minsk Group’s mediation format to impose unilateral concessions
No delimitation or demarcation process is actually taking place. Today, a policy of unilateral concessions is being implemented under coercion and the threat of force, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan said at a press conference with international media.
He noted that our goal should be to change this logic and come to actual negotiations. Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan highlighted the importance of the OSCE mediation in these negotiations.
“Real negotiations should be comply with international standards and should involve guarantors. The OSCE is an essential platform that can become an important mediator in these negotiations. Today, no border delimitation or demarcation is being carried out; there is a threat of force, unilateral concessions, and coercion. There can be no peace under such conditions. If we strive for peace, our borders must be protected, and that peace must be defined. If they want to sign a peace treaty, peace must be defined. One cannot carry our border delimitation and demarcation, and only then decide to sign a peace treaty without guarantors. This is beyond reason,” he said.
In response to the question as to whether Armenia wants to return to the OSCE Minsk Group format, considering that Azerbaijan wants it to abandon the idea of the Minsk Group, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan said: “International guarantors and the already existing platform will state that, and the negotiations will proceed on a more transparent and reliable level. There will be no coercion, threats, or unilateral concessions—this is what we can see today. And that is why Azerbaijan wants to eliminate this mediator or guarantor mission—to eliminate it altogether and follow the path that they are treading now. There is an illusion that negotiations are underway, but in fact, no negotiation is taking place. The world has developed that mechanism, that possibility, which in this case is the OSCE Minsk Group,” Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan noted.
