The OSCE MG Co-Chairing Countries's Policy Towards Baku Make their Efforts on Karabakh Conflict Settlement in Vain

• 08.17.2015, 10:03
•  Region,  "Insight" Analytical Center ,  NKR

An Azerbaijani famous historian, social activist Arif Yunus and his wife, human rights activist Leyla Yunus have been sentenced to 7-8.5 years of imprisonment. And they are not the only political prisoners in Azerbaijan. In 2014 about 98 journalists and bloggers, human rights activists, opposition politicians, activists of youth and religious organizations were imprisoned. It seemed that the fabricated court cases against journalists and human rights defenders and their imprisonment in the neighboring country are extreme measures directed against freedom of speech, but a few days ago we witnessed a more radical manifestation of this. Rasim Aliyev, an opposition journalist was beaten to death.

International human rights organizations have already expressed their concerns over these facts of violations of freedom of speech and have made statements on them. However, it is clear that they in no way constrain Baku. Only a month ago the OSCE office was closed. The calls of the organization as well as the international actors, including the US, to review the decision gave no effect. There is an impression that the official Baku is aware of only one of the principles of international law, which calls to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign country.

Baku seems to be unaware that all the principles of international law constitute a whole and the provision not to intervene into the internal affairs of a country ceases to exist when a country becomes a threat to international peace and stability. And the fact that the Azeri leadership's external policy is interrelated to the domestic one we feel on our own skin. The actions of the current Azerbaijani authorities can be characterized as "hatred towards people", as it is manifested inside the country towards its own people by repression and human rights violations, as well as on the Armenia-Azerbaijani and NKR-Azerbaijani borders. The point is that under the total control of the country's media Aliyev clan tries to guarantee the long existence of its regime and clan. The control over their own media and the information "blockade" of its own society Aliyev uses for more disgusting aim than just for the limitation of the freedom of speech. It is no secret that the Azerbaijani media over the years has been creating an image an Armenian as an enemy and the main source of misfortune of Azerbaijan. The result is the victims in NKR and RA border villages – both soldiers and civilians.

What does Aliyev against his own people or against the Armenians, no matter how sad it is, is simple and understandable ... It is the stance of the international community, which does not go beyond bare statement, that upsets mostly. This proves that the interests are dominant to values. It is difficult to imagine that the international players do not understand that they contribute to the emergence of a new eastern dictator with a lot of dangers.

Maybe one day the international community will come to Aliyev dictator, but it is clear that this will be done when necessary. And in this case, no matter how strange it may sound, Armenians together with Azeris, in a sense, appear on the same side of the barricades. It seems that Aliyevunderstands this very well and that's why he is trying in every way to exclude any possibility of contact between representatives of civil society. However, in this case the international community, particularly the Karabakh conflict mediators should confess that as a result of the policy of their own governments, particularly in the context of "spoiling" Aliyev, all the steps undertaken by them become useless. It is not once that the mediators have declared that the primary issue is not the agreement between the parties, but to restore a climate of trust between communities.