By JON INARRITU (Basque Member of the Spanish Parliament), URKO AIARTZA (Basque Member of the Spanish Senate)
New Eastern Europe
A fatal ceasefire violation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict took place on November 12th 2014 when Azerbaijan forces shot down an unarmed helicopter from the unrecognised republic, killing all three crewmembers. As a result, unprecedented tensions rose between the sides, with Azerbaijan prohibiting the recovery of the three bodies, which came down in the so-called “no-man’s land”, alarming the international community.
Just weeks earlier, under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group, the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, met in Paris reaffirming their mutual willingness to settle the conflict peacefully.
The ceasefire agreement between Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan and Armenia was signed in 1994 and the OSCE with its Minsk Group became the only accepted framework by all sides and the international community to settle this apparently frozen conflict. To this day, it is the only self-regulated ceasefire in the world. However, hostilities and regular casualties keep the conflict alive, with the number of deaths rocketing this summer to the highest figure since the truce.
The OSCE Minsk Group and most of the international community again chose a very mild language referring to the downing of the helicopter.
This avoidance of the obvious facts reinforces what Azerbaijan believes is the right way to act, which includes regular shelling, ceasefire violations and continuous threats. Therefore, Aliyev’s regime also felt correct in its decision to deny access to the crash site for the Red Cross and the OSCE Minsk Group to recover the bodies. Such an irresponsible attitude could have easily led to severe consequences.
Finally, the Nagorno-Karabakh Defence Army launched a risky operation and successfully recovered the three bodies registering no casualties during the operation and thus avoided any further escalation.
A different response could have been expected, but the Nagorno-Karabakh Defence Army limited itself to recovering the bodies, avoiding retaliation. Paradoxically, it was this military operation that prevented a full-scale war this time, with catastrophic consequences for both for the region and the western oil-dependent economies. No one can assure that we will be this fortunate next time.]
In this context, the international organizations’ wordings, such as the European Union, the OSCE, and others, “…calling on both sides…”, “…appeal to the sides to avoid steps…”, seem all the more inadequate.
The international community should use a more explicit language, as it can otherwise generate further frustration and – what is even more dangerous – the feeling of unfairness, abandonment and resignation, paving the way for what exactly we are trying to avoid: a do-it-yourself solution.
We are hopeful that the tragic loss of these three lives has helped everyone understand that especially in diplomacy; it is also important and has advantages to call things by their name.