The Republic of Azerbaijan’s cooperation with the OSCE (then - CSCE) formally started on January 30, 1992, when, at the second meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in Prague, Azerbaijan acceded to this international organization. Though the cooperation of Azerbaijan with different CSCE/OSCE structures, institutions and field missions has been carried out in all three dimensions of comprehensive security concept of the Organization, priority on this long agenda is accorded to the peaceful settlement of the armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The settlement of the armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been on the agenda of the CSCE/OSCE since the very accession of the two states to the Organization. Already on February 28, 1992 the CSCE Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) urged “the interested parties to impose an immediate ceasefire on all forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh area of the Azerbaijani Republic”. The CSO also noted the need for “respect for the inviolability of all borders” which “can only be changed through peaceful means and by common agreement”, as well as for “guarantees for the absence of territorial claims towards any neighboring State”.
On March 24, 1992, in Helsinki the First Additional Meeting of the CSCE Council of Ministers decided to convoke a conference on Nagorno-Karabakh in the Belarusian capital - Minsk as “an ongoing forum for negotiations towards the peaceful settlement of the crisis on the basis of the principles, commitments and provisions of the CSCE”. Nine participating States of the CSCE, as well as two countries – parties to the conflict – Azerbaijan and Armenia - were to take part in the Conference. Representatives of Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan were to be invited by the Chairman of the Conference as “interested parties” based upon agreement of the countries participating in the Conference.
In 1993 following the escalation of the conflict by Armenia resulted in military occupation of the whole territory of the Nagorno Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and seven other Azerbaijani districts around it the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions (UNSC resolutions 822,853,874,884) in which it condemned the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories and demanded immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of all occupying forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The Security Council in its resolutions also reiterated its support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and reconfirmed the Nagorno-Karabakh region as Azerbaijan’s integral part. These resolutions still remain unimplemented.
In May 1993 Initial Operations Planning Group (IOPG) was established in the OSCE framework in order to prepare the deployment of the OSCE Monitoring Mission in the area of conflict.
The Heads of State and Government at the CSCE Summit which was held on December 5 – 6, 1994 in Budapest “confirmed their commitment to the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council” in the context of the continued conflict. The Summit also decided to set up Co-chairmanship of the Minsk Conference in order “to realize full coordination in all mediation and negotiation activities”. The Co-Chairmen who were to be “guided in all negotiating efforts by CSCE principles and an agreed mandate” were entrusted with conducting “speedy negotiations for the conclusion of a political agreement on the cessation of the armed conflict, the implementation of which will eliminate major consequences of the conflict for all parties and permit the convening of the Minsk Conference”. The Summit furthermore agreed “to provide … a multinational CSCE peacekeeping force following agreement among the parties for cessation of the armed conflict”. According to the relevant decision of the summit the High-Level Planning Group (HLPG) was also established with the aim of intensifying action in relation to the conflict dealt with by the Minsk Conference. HLPG superseded an earlier IOPG.
On August 10 the OSCE Chairman-in-Office appointed a Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office on the Conflict Dealt with by the OSCE Minsk conference. The present Personal Representative, Ambassador Andrzey Kasprzyk of Poland was appointed by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office on January 1, 1997.
The Personal Representative’s mandate from the Chairman-in-Office is to:
· represent the OSCE Chairman-in-Office in issues related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, assist the CiO in achieving an agreement on the cessation of the armed conflict and in creating conditions for the deployment of an OSCE peace-keeping operation, in order to facilitate a lasting comprehensive political settlement of the conflict in all its aspects;
· report on all aspects of his activities to the CiO of the OSCE, report through the CiO to the Co-Chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Conference and, as appropriate, to the Minsk Group, and receive instructions from the CiO;
· assist the Co-Chairmanship at its request;
· assist the High Level Planning Group in planning an OSCE peace-keeping operation in accordance with the Budapest Summit Decisions;
· assist the parties in implementing and developing confidence-building, humanitarian and other measures facilitating the peace process, in particular by encouraging direct contacts;
· co-operate, as appropriate, with representatives of the United Nations and other international organizations operating in the area of conflict.
According to the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Government of Georgia, the PR established a separate office in Tbilisi as a basis and headquarters. In order to be able to conduct the operational activities defined in the mandate, the Field Assistants of the PR are present in Baku, Yerevan and Khankendi.
At the OSCE Summit that took place on December 2 - 3, 1996 in Lisbon the Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Conference and the Chairman-in-Office put forward the cornerstone principles of the conflict settlement which provided for the territorial integrity of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the highest degree of self-rule for Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan and guaranteed security for its whole population. These principles found their way into the Lisbon Document in the form of a statement by OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Mr. Flavio Cotti. All the OSCE participating States except one country – Armenia - supported these principles.
The present arrangement for a three-fold Chairmanship of the Minsk Conference (Russia, France and the United States) was made in 1997, following the Lisbon Summit.
On 1 June 1997, the Co-Chairmen presented a draft of a comprehensive agreement to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which envisaged withdrawal of Armenian troops from some of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and contained elements dealing with the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan accepted this proposal in principle but Armenia rejected it.
On 19 September 1997, the Co-Chairmen presented a new proposal for ending the military conflict. They recommended that as a first step those portions of the political agreement that had already been accepted during previous negotiations, should be implemented. Azerbaijan supported this proposal by the Co-Chairmen, but Armenia once again rejected it.
Later the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan announced in a joint declaration on 11 October 1997 in Strasbourg that these proposals represented a promising basis for resuming negotiations within the framework of the Minsk Group. This was the first time (still the last one so far) that the proposals by the Co-Chairmen received positive reaction form both Armenia and Azerbaijan. However, Armenia's new leadership rejected these proposals in 1998.
A year later, on 7 November 1998, the Co-Chairmen presented new proposals based on the concept of a "common state" according to which “Nagorno-Karabakh” would have the status of a state and a territorial structure in the form of a republic that would, together with Azerbaijan, constitute a “common state” within its internationally recognized borders. Azerbaijan rejected these proposals because they violated its sovereignty, undermined its territorial integrity as well as contradicted the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and the Lisbon principles.
Since then the Co-chairmen have repeatedly traveled to Azerbaijan and Armenia to discuss the situation around the conflict settlement process, as well as participated in some meetings of the Presidents of the two countries. The Co-chairmen on a regular basis report to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna and brief delegations of the Minsk Group member-countries in Vienna on their activities.
Starting with 1999, the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia engaged in direct dialogue in order to assist the mediators in their efforts aimed at achieving breakthrough in the search for peace.
At the OSCE Summit held in Istanbul on November 18-19, 1999, the Heads of State and Government expressed their support to this dialogue being conducted at the highest political level “with the hope of resuming negotiations within the OSCE Minsk Group”.
The Foreign Ministers of the OSCE participating States in Bucharest and Porto in 2001 and 2002 accordingly, called upon the sides “to achieve an early resolution of the conflict based on norms and principles of international law”.
In Porto the Delegation of Azerbaijan made an interpretative statement to the text of the relevant decision on the conflict that outlined major elements of the position of Azerbaijan with regard to the settlement of the conflict, which is firmly based upon the foundation of international law.
This principled position was reiterated in the interpretative statement of Azerbaijan at the Ministerial meeting in Maastricht in December 2003.
Practical cooperation between Azerbaijan and the OSCE
Azerbaijan's collaboration with the OSCE in the politico-military dimension
Practical cooperation between Azerbaijan and the OSCE in this dimension has gained momentum over the past two years, including in the context of Azerbaijan’s active role as a member of global anti-terrorist coalition.
In the fall of 2002 the President of Azerbaijan, OSCE representatives, officials from NGO’s and religious communities from across the OSCE area and beyond were among those who gathered for the conference on the role of religion and convictions in the democratic society in order to discuss the wide ranging implications of this issue and strategies for the future. The conference followed on from a workshop held earlier in that year entitled “Ensuring Freedom of Religion and Belief while combating Extremism: Challenges and Practices in Azerbaijan”.
In June 2002 OSCE’s Conflict Prevention Center (CPC) organized a national seminar for Azerbaijan on implementation of the OSCE’s Code of Conduct.
In 2002-2003 a one-year training course for the Azerbaijani border guards was organized in cooperation with the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and OSCE Office in Baku and successfully run at the Polish border guards academy in Ketrzyn.
In May 2003 training for the Azerbaijani peacekeeping unit on international humanitarian law was conducted in cooperation with Switzerland and the OSCE’s CPC.
Azerbaijan's collaboration with the OSCE in economic and environmental dimension
Cooperation of Azerbaijan with the OSCE in the “second basket” of the OSCE comprehensive concept of security started to move towards implementation of the specific programs and joint endeavors after inauguration of the OSCE Office in Baku.
Though OSCE is not an economic organization or a financial institution, a number of activities related to economic development and environmental protection have been carried out over the recent years and planned for implementation in the future. Cooperative projects extend to such areas, as promotion of small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurship, encouragement of tourism, business training and capacity building, as well as environmental protection.
In March 2002 the Third preparatory seminar of the OSCE Economic Forum on Cooperation for sustainable Use and the Protection of the Quality of Water was held in Baku, being the first OSCE multinational activity of this kind held in the region.
In January 2003 a study tour on business incubators and industrial parks to Hungary and Austria was organized by the OSCE for the Azerbaijani businessmen. In April 2003 as a follow-up to this activity a National Workshop on business incubators and industrial parks was organized in cooperation with UNIDO and the OSCE.
The Business Development Alliance of Azerbaijan established in partnership with the OSCE held its first general meeting in Baku in February 2003 during which the Economic and Environmental Officer of the Baku OSCE Office was elected Chairman of a 14-person Board. The inaugural meeting was officially opened by the Azerbaijani Minister of Economic Development together with the Ambassadors of the United States and Norway. More than 70 Azerbaijani and international government, commercial, and media representatives were present to witness the election of members of the Board and the Control Commission.
In the spring of 2003 the OSCE Office in Baku assisted in establishing contacts between the International Youth Hostel Federation and the Minister of Youth, Sport, and Tourism in order to discuss the establishment of a youth hostel in Azerbaijan. The opening of a youth hostel in Azerbaijan would be a first for both the country and the South Caucasus region and would provide another opportunity for the development of tourism
On September 23, 2003 a Public Information Center to promote public access to environmental information and encourage participation in decision-making in environmental affairs was opened in Azerbaijan by the OSCE Office in Baku and Azerbaijan's Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. The Center supports the implementation of the Aarhus Convention in Azerbaijan.
In May 2004, the OSCE Office in Baku, in coordination with the International Finance Corporation and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Republic of Azerbaijan, sponsored an International Conference on Leasing Development in Azerbaijan. The Conference, well-attended by over 250 representatives of the Azerbaijani government, banking community and private sector, promoted newly implemented leasing legislation and practices in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan's cooperation with the OSCE in the field of human dimension
At present Azerbaijan's practical interaction with the OSCE in the field of human dimension is focused on three main areas: 1) organization of election monitoring; 2) implementation of the projects in the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of Azerbaijan and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR); 3) co-operation with the OSCE's Representative on Freedom of the Media.
Election monitoring
The start of the practical cooperation with the OSCE in this sphere dates back to the very early days of the Azerbaijani membership in the Organization.
Already during presidential elections in Azerbaijan in the fall of 1993 representatives of ODIHR assisted in preparation of the elections and took part in the monitoring process.
On 19 June 1995 the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan sent an official letter to the Director of the ODIHR with a request to provide assistance by sending observers from the Office and from the participating States to monitor the elections to the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan as well as through coordinating international observation of the preparation and implementation of these elections.
An OSCE/UN Joint Electoral Observation Mission was set up. Beginning mid-September 1995 the Joint Mission scrutinized the election campaign, starting with the registration of the candidates and parties for participation in the elections and going on to the appeal process for candidates and parties excluded from the campaign. One hundred observers were sent to monitor the elections and the vote count in Baku, Ganja and Nakhchyvan.
In 1998 presidential elections were held in Azerbaijan. The ODIHR Election Observation Mission began its work on 11 September 1998. The Mission monitored the election campaign and the administrative preparations for Election Day. On that day the Mission deployed 148 observers all over Azerbaijan to monitor the elections. On 11 November 1998 the ODIHR published its final report on the observation of the presidential elections held in the Republic of Azerbaijan on 11 October 1998. The Observer Mission noted in the report that the Azerbaijani authorities had demonstrated a clear political will to improve the country's election practice significantly and had responded positively to concerns raised by the international community.
The report said that the OSCE/ODIHR would continue to provide assistance to the newly elected authorities of Azerbaijan to further promote the development of democratic institutions in the country. The leadership of Azerbaijan expressed its willingness for future co-operation with the ODIHR in this field.
On October 4, 2000, following the invitation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, the OSCE established the Election Observation Mission to monitor parliamentary elections in the country. On election day around 900 polling stations were visited by observers. ODIHR was also directly involved in the monitoring process in repeat elections of January 7, 2001.
At the beginning of September 2003 the ODIHR began its Election Observation Mission to monitor the presidential elections in Azerbaijan with the deployment of the 30 international election experts from 18 OSCE participating states. Among the tasks of the Mission were monitoring of the elections campaign, including the media, the legal framework, the work of election administration.
Implementation of assistance projects agreed between the Government of Azerbaijan and the ODIHR
On 25 November 1998 H.E. Heydar Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan and H.E. Bronislaw Geremek, the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, signed the Memorandum of Understanding between the OSCE/ODIHR and the Government of Azerbaijan.
In the Memorandum, the OSCE/ODIHR and the Government of Azerbaijan agreed to hold regular consultations on matters pertaining to the human dimension. At the same time, joint activities were to be undertaken to develop and carry out projects related to democratic reforms, human rights and elections. A provisional list of agreed projects was attached to the Memorandum. In order to strengthen civil society in Azerbaijan, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the field of human rights were to be involved in the implementation of these projects. Aware that the process of democratic reform would take a long time, the ODIHR and the government of Azerbaijan regarded the Memorandum as the basis for a long-term effort.
A list of specific projects is updated on a regular basis upon mutual agreement between sides to take into account most pressing needs and changing priorities.
The projects implemented so far and planned for the future cover such areas as assistance in organizing elections, reviewing election legislation and training election officials, citizenship and registration issues, public awareness on human rights, training of law-enforcement authorities, religious freedom, gender equality and others.
Cooperation with the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media
The Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media was created by the decision of the Permanent Council of 5 November 1997.
At the very beginning co-operation with the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media was implemented mainly in the form of an exchange of letters between the former and the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan and through direct contacts with the Azerbaijani diplomatic representation in Vienna.
Since 1997 representatives of the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media have paid three visits to Baku. The first visit was made by the adviser of the Office who from 9-11 November 1998 attended a seminar organized by the Council of Europe on issues relating to the press in a democratic society. The second one took place on 23 February 1999 when the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media visited Baku at the invitation of the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan. During his stay the Head of the OSCE institution met with the President, the Foreign Minister, the Minister for Press and Information, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Azerbaijan" and with representatives of the Milli Majlis.
The last one took place at the end of year 2001 when Senior adviser of the OSCE Representative held meetings in various ministries and the Azerbaijani parliament, as well as with Azerbaijani media and NGO’s representatives.
These visits helped to strengthen mutually beneficial dialogue of Azerbaijan with this OSCE institution. Over recent years bilateral interaction has started to cover such areas, as project and programmatic activities.
In December 2001 a seminar entitled “Developing freedom and responsibility of Media” attended by more than 30 young journalists was organized in Baku in cooperation with the Office of OSCE Representative.
The Office of the OSCE Representative on freedom of the media is involved in facilitation of study tours abroad for Azerbaijani journalists.
OSCE Office in Baku
Practical goal-oriented cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Organization is carried out in close coordination with the OSCE Office in Baku. The Office initiated its official activities on July 18, 2000 following the ratification by the Parliament of Azerbaijan of the Memorandum of Understanding between the OSCE and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
In accordance with the relevant decision of the OSCE Permanent Council, which envisions the establishment of the Office, its mandate includes the following elements
- promote the implementation of the OSCE principles and commitments as well as the cooperation of the Republic of Azerbaijan within the OSCE framework, in all OSCE dimensions, including human, political, economic and environmental aspects of security and stability;
- facilitate contacts, co-ordinate activities and promote information exchange with the Chairman-in-Office and other OSCE institutions as well as cooperation with international organizations and institutions;
- establish and maintain contacts with local authorities, universities, research institutions and NGOs and assist with arranging events with the OSCE participation;
- perform other tasks deemed appropriate by the Chairman-in-Office or other OSCE institutions and agreed on between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the OSCE.
The Office currently has six international staff members, including the Head of Office. Its mandate is subject to a regular consideration for its prolongation by the OSCE’s Permanent Council.