Transitions on Line, Czech Rep.
Sept 1 2006

OSCE Karabakh Troubleshooter Under Fire

by Shahin Abbasov and Khadija Ismailova
1 September 2006

Hopes for a breakthrough in the Karabakh peace process any time soon
appear to be thoroughly dashed. From EurasiaNet.

Azerbaijan’s patience is wearing thin over the lack of movement
toward a Nagorno-Karabakh peace settlement, and officials in Baku are
taking out their frustration on the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) 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. In a
mid-August speech to Azeri diplomats, President Ilham Aliev indicated
that Baku’s position is hardening. "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 Azeri officials, backed
by media reports, have portrayed Kasprzyk as incompetent, biased in
favor of Armenia, and possibly involved in nefarious business
dealings.

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
Aliev’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, Azeri officials pressed Kasprzyk
to look into the matter, and quickly started to criticize him for not
pursuing the investigation vigorously.

Azeri 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
were hampered by gunfire exchanges between Armenian and Azeri forces
deployed along the so-called contact line.

On 17 August, the Turan news agency quoted Novruz Mamedov, the head
of the Azeri 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, Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov stated that
"the non-prevention of Armenian-instigated blazes in the occupied
territories may lead to an ecological catastrophe." Other Azeri
officials assailed Yerevan, accusing Armenian authorities of taking
no action to fight the fires. Azeri 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 Azeri 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,
Azeri 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 on 26 August.