Karabakh Conflict and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation

• 09.02.2016, 16:02
• Arpine Hovsepyan
•  Region,  World,  NKR,  Analytics

AWDNEWC.COM

The first meeting of the contact group of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Karabakh conflict may take place in September, the spokesperson of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hadjiev said. "Work is being done to hold the first meeting of the contact group at the level of the foreign ministers of the OIC countries," an Azerbaijani media quoted the diplomat as saying, Interfax reports. Hadjiev said the meeting of the contact group is expected to be held as a separate event within the 71st session of the UN General Assembly which will take place in the organization's headquarters in New York on September 13-26.

The decision to create the OIC contact group on Karabakh conflict was made at the OIC summit held in Istanbul on April 14-15. The summit adopted documents with anti-Armenian formulations. In particular, the final communiqué urges Armenia "to withdraw its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan", affirming its "principled support to Azerbaijan's efforts." Moreover, stressing "the necessity to further increase pressure on Armenia by political, economic and other coercive means", the OIC passed from statements and resolutions to concrete steps. It was declared that a contact group is created with the participation of the foreign ministers that will deal with "Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan."

By the way, it was planned to hold the first meeting of the contact group on Karabakh conflict within the summit in Istanbul in April. But, apparently, this process did not cause much interest among the OIC member states. Azerbaijani media informs that currently the contact group on Karabakh includes Turkey, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Malaysia, the Gambia and Djibouti.

It should be noted that Ankara greatly supports Azerbaijan in order to make Karabakh conflict a subject of discussions within the OIC.  During the last years Turkey has become one of the most influential members of the organization. It is no accident that after a decision was made to create a contact group on Karabakh, Turkey called all countries of the organization to take an active role in the work of the contact group.

In general, Turkey urges OIC to take more active role in international relations (at the same time trying to strengthen its position in the Islamic world). During the last decade the OIC has consistently increased its involvement in the conflict settlement. But the efforts to present itself as a "collective voice of the Islamic world" rarely succeed, which proves the existence of many disagreements among the member states.

After the OIC summit in Istanbul, the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev invited the heads of diplomatic missions of Muslim countries and international organizations in Azerbaijan and expressed his gratitude for the adoption of the documents of the OIC Summit in Istanbul. Aliyev stated that "Armenian government looks at the Muslim countries as enemies", and therefore it is very important that the whole Islamic world shows its unity in the Karabakh conflict and other issues.

Once again, trying to give a religious coloring to the Karabakh conflict and to bring out the settlement process from the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs' format, Azerbaijan and Turkey create the illusion of hostility between Armenia and the Islamic world. But it is illogical taking into account Armenia's good relations with many Islamic countries.

Thus, the meeting of the contact group on Karabakh, even if it takes place (its possibility is not high), cannot have any significant impact on the Karabakh conflict settlement process, because the settlement talks are conducted within internationally accepted format – the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. And the same time Minsk Group Co-Chairs have repeatedly stressed that the efforts to transfer the settlement process to another platform may have very negative impact on the entire process. Besides, it is impossible to talk about the possibility of any constructive discussions in OIC contact group, taking into account the absence on the Armenian sides and the fact that Turkey and Azerbaijan will do everything possible to have anti-Armenian announcements from the countries that are almost unaware of the essence of Karabakh conflict.

Info

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation is the second largest inter-governmental organization. It was founded in 1969. Today it has 57 member-states. During the first decades of its existence OIC was focused on the Palestine issue, the protection of Islamic holy sites and the strengthening of economic cooperation between the member-states. Due to internal disagreements and conflicts it could not act as a unified organization. Since 2000-ies reforms have been implemented to strengthen the organization's influence in the international arena.