Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
April 18, 2005, Monday

A STRANGE INSPECTION

SOURCE: Rossiiskiye Vesti, No. 13, April 14-20, 2005, p. 8

by Arif Ikramov

Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, who is acting OSCE
president, has visited Baku. He again called for speeding up the talks
on settlement of the Karabakh problem. According to reports from the
media agencies based in Baku, Rupel faced a chilling reception in
this city. He didn’t propose any breakthrough decisions to solve the
inveterate conflict. Rotation is taking place at this post annually
and each OSCE president has only paid a familiarization visit, writes
the Zerkalo newspaper.

A short, but tempestuous diplomatic story of the Karabakh conflict
indicates that despite OSCE’s direct involvement in this process,
no decisions are available. Setting up the Minsk OSCE Group is the
main result; this process is only functioning because such large
powers like the USA, France and Russia are leading it. Many political
consultants in Baku hold this opinion.

Nevertheless, the situation in the conflict zone remains tense. The
talks between the sides have become more frequent, as well as the
propagandistic war. Some Western and Russian analysts presume that
serious complications are to come on the “Karabakh front” in the near
future, not because something extraordinary is taking place. Some of
them suspect that at the expense of Karabakh the conflicting parties
are trying to solve their internal problems. This might be the reason
why Rupel stated that OSCE has worked out remarks concerning the
democratization of elections in Azerbaijan.

Of course, these remarks are presented like recommendations. However,
presumes Arzu Abdulayeva, co-chairperson of the Helsinki Group, OSCE
begins linking the situation in Karabakh to the internal processes
in Azerbaijan and Armenia, since elections are coming up in both
states. If the forecast of this Azerbaijani political analysts
has real underlying, the time is right to speak about OSCE’s policy
of double standards in the Caucasus, when the concern for Karabakh
screens sheer targets of conducting so-called “color revolutions”
in Baku and Yerevan.