ArmInfo. Baku commented on the issue of sending an OSCE mission to Armenia. Thus, the Zerbaijaniforeign policy, commenting on this information, assured that the issue of such a mission has never been discussed by any collective decision-making body of the OSCE, and no decisions have been made on this matter.
"At the same time, any group called the OSCE Mission for the Assessment of the Needs of Armenia does not have an OSCE mandate, cannot be associated with the OSCE in any way, and none of its results or reports will be accepted as OSCE documents. This unilateral initiative put forward by Armenia is nothing more than a personal visit of a group of several participating states, and any result of such a visit will be assessed accordingly," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry noted.
Baku stated that "this step raises serious questions and such unilateral actions of the OSCE Chairmanship and Secretariat, among other things, contradict the basic principles of any responsible and reliable mediation and confidence-building, which require the consent of the parties, the impartiality of the mediators and compliance with the obligations of states arising from the international rights".
As ArmInfo previously reported, at the invitation of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, the OSCE will send a needs assessment team to the country, which will arrive from October 21-27. The purpose of the visit is to assess the situation in some border areas on the basis of the mandate and experience of the OSCE within its comprehensive security concept. A technical team composed of international experts and representatives of the OSCE Secretariat will visit areas along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and hold on-site consultations with relevant national and local stakeholders, as well as international partners.