Azeri Political Parties, NGO Chastise Mediators In Nagorno-Karabakh

AZERI POLITICAL PARTIES, NGO CHASTISE MEDIATORS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

Interfax News Agency
March 31 2008
Russia

A number of Azeri political parties and nongovernmental organizations
have called on the Minsk OSCE Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement
to "show a sense of responsibility in its mediation of the conflict,"
the ruling Eni-Azerbaijan party told Interfax.

"The co-chairmen [Russia, the U.S., and France] of the Minsk OSCE
Group are not impartial in their dealings with the sides to the
conflict [the Azeri-Armenian conflict]. In some cases they have made
statements that cover the aggressive acts of Armenia and have undertook
steps that have not contributed to a resolution of the conflict,"
said a statement adopted by some parties and the National Forum of
nongovernmental organizations at a roundtable on Monday.

This attitude was on display during voting at the 62nd session of the
UN General Assembly on a resolution introduced by Azerbaijan calling
for the withdrawal of all Armenian troops in the conflict area.

"The parties and the National NGO Forum that signed the call
resolutely condemned the Minsk OSCE Group chairmen’s stance regarding
the aforementioned UN General Assembly resolution and called on them
to act based on the standards and principles of international law,"
the document says.

The statement, adopted at the initiative of the ruling Eni Azerbaijan
party, has been forwarded to the embassies of the cochairmen of the
Minsk OSCE Group for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.