AZERBAIJAN TARGETS OSCE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR CRITICISM
Shahin Abbasov and Khadija Ismailova
EurasiaNet, NY
Aug. 28, 2006
Azerbaijan’s patience is wearing thin over the lack of movement toward
Nagorno-Karabakh peace settlement, and officials in Baku are taking
out their frustration on the OSCE’s trouble-shooter responsible for
monitoring the cease-fire.
Hopes for a breakthrough in the Karabakh peace process, so high
at the outset of 2006, now appear to be thoroughly dashed. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In a mid-August speech to
Azerbaijani diplomats, President Ilham Aliyev indicated that Baku’s
position is hardening. [For background see the Eurasia insight
archive]. "Azerbaijan will not tolerate the creation of a second
Armenian state on its territory," the president said.
Another sign that trouble may be looming on the horizon is the vehement
criticism coming from Baku aimed at Andrzej Kasprzyk, the special
representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office on Karabakh-related
issues. Recent statements by Azerbaijani officials, backed by media
reports, have portrayed Kasprzyk as incompetent, biased in favour of
Armenia and possibly involved in nefarious financial dealings under
the guise of diplomatic immunity.
Having held the special representative designation for nearly a decade,
Kasprzyk’s responsibilities include managing existing cease-fire
monitoring mechanisms and promoting confidence-building measures
between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He also supports the OSCE’s Minsk
Group in promoting a lasting peace settlement for Karabakh.
Now it appears that Kasprzyk no longer enjoys the confidence of
Aliyev’s administration. Dissatisfaction with Kasprzyk’s handling of
a recent inquiry into a series of fires in areas of Azerbaijan under
occupation by Armenian forces triggered Baku’s attacks against him.
The fires began breaking out in June. Convinced that the blazes had
been deliberately set by Armenians, Azerbaijani officials pressed
Kasprzyk to look into the matter, and quickly started to criticize
him for not pursuing the investigation vigorously.
Azerbaijani officials reportedly became enraged when Kasprzyk’s
report went into specific detail about the damage done by the fires,
but shied away from examining how they started. The closest the report
got to taking a stand was a suggestion that, given the arid conditions
prevailing in the area during the summer, fire was a perennial threat.
"I am not an investigator," the Arminfo news agency quoted Kasprzyk as
saying. "I could not find any evidence about what caused the fires." He
indicated that international efforts to monitor the fires was hampered
by gunfire exchanges between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces deployed
along the so-called contact line.
On August 17, the Turan news agency quoted Novruz Mamedov, the head of
the Azerbaijani presidential administration’s International Department,
as complaining that Kasprzyk and the Minsk Group co-chairs had
"displayed a belated reaction" to Baku’s request for an investigation,
thus "showing their one-sided position."
The same day, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov stated
that "the non-prevention of Armenian-instigated blazes in the occupied
territories may lead to an ecological catastrophe." Other Azerbaijani
officials assailed Yerevan, accusing Armenian authorities of taking
no action to fight the fires. Azerbaijani authorities at the same
time appealed to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
and UNESCO for help in containing the fires. Armenian officials have
generally maintained a low profile in the controversy.
>>From Baku’s viewpoint, the fires are politically motivated,
designed to prevent the resettlement of Azerbaijani internally
displaced persons. "If the fires continue, it will create problems
for people who will move to these areas; people will not be able
to use this land for at least the next five-10 years," Araz Azimov,
Azerbaijan’s deputy foreign minister, told reporters.
Azimov went on to ridicule Kasprzyk’s assessment on the fires.
"Kasprzyk himself admitted that he is not an ecologist," Azimov said.
"Therefore, his [inference] that natural causes were behind the fires
in the occupied territories is completely groundless," Azimov said.
Despite their clear dissatisfaction with Kasprzyk’s performance,
Azerbaijani officials have not taken formal action to prompt the
special representative’s replacement. Without such action, Kasprzyk
said he intends to keep performing his duties. "I will not resign,"
the Turan news agency quoted him as saying August 26.
Editor’s Note: Editor’s Note: Khadija Ismayilova is an analyst based
in Washington. Shain Abbasov is a freelance journalist based in Baku.