Everything that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev talks about eventually becomes reality. Some are slower, some are faster, depending on the circumstances and the amount of interference. But this has already been proven and no one doubts it anymore: if the Azerbaijani leader raises a question, he will surely come to his decision, no matter what the force of friction.
On September 1, the OSCE Council of Ministers decided to close all institutions related to the Minsk process on the Karabakh settlement starting from the same day. According to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, this decision was made on the basis of a joint appeal from Azerbaijan and Armenia. The OSCE secretariat has been instructed to resolve all organizational and technical issues related to the liquidation of these structures by December 1, 2025. In addition, the document notes that all decisions previously taken within the OSCE regarding the former Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict are null and void and cannot be applied. Among other things, the institution of the personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office on the conflict, as well as High-level Planning Groups, is being eliminated.
This decision was made on the basis of a joint appeal from Baku and Yerevan.
OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu confirmed the termination of the existence of the Minsk Group and congratulated Armenia and Azerbaijan "on this concrete step towards peace and stability in the region, which is convincing evidence of the effectiveness of diplomacy."
That's all. The 33-year history of the OSCE Minsk Group on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict has ended. It ended, I must say, ingloriously. The three powers - the United States, Russia and France - have not been able to find ways to resolve the problem peacefully. Or they didn't want to, as President Ilham Aliyev said.
33 years of meaningless activities, meaningless meetings and senseless waste of taxpayers' funds in the member states. The most annoying thing is that half of those years were years of hope. It didn't take long in Azerbaijan, but they still hoped that the international community would finally knock on the table and call the occupier to order. However, the international community, which was represented by the three Powers, was in no hurry to knock on the table. On the contrary, everything was done to ensure that the status quo, God forbid, would not suffer from "excessive" peacemaking.
The OSCE Minsk Group was established in 1992. As if on purpose, three countries with the largest and most influential Armenian Diaspora were appointed as Co-chairs of the MG. Although why "as if"? There is no chance or coincidence here. This was done intentionally, since from the very beginning, the triumph of justice and international law was not on the menu. The goal of the decades-long process was to secure the lands for Armenia. But then, when Baku runs out of steam and stops fighting. Everything ends sometime, they sang in MG to the accompaniment of a duduk.
But Baku not only did not give up, but also gathered forces and liberated its lands on its own, shocking everyone.
A few days ago, at a meeting with residents of Kalbajar, the President said: "We have achieved what we wanted, the hated Minsk group is already living out its last days. In fact, she was inactive, and could not act. However, legally it existed, and now its end is approaching."
The Azerbaijani leader spoke about the futility of continuing the existence of the MG immediately after the Victory. I recall the meeting of the head of state with the Co-Chairs from France and the United States, as well as the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office in December 2020. The three of them sat in front of the winning President like students who had failed an exam.
"Unfortunately, the Minsk Group has not played any role in resolving the conflict. Although the Minsk Group has had a corresponding mandate for this for 28 years. I have been involved in negotiations for the last 17 years. However, as I said during the war, although the Minsk Group had some activity in the direction of advancing ideas and showing creativity, it did not give any result. That's the reality.
...Why, despite the resolutions of the UN Security Council, OSCE resolutions, and other international organizations, has the conflict not been resolved for so many years? The three permanent members of the UN Security Council were unable to use their capabilities and potential to force the Armenians to leave. They couldn't even get them out of some territories. Couldn't or wouldn't? This question remains open. But it doesn't matter now. The conflict has been resolved. Azerbaijan did this by military and political means. I have often heard from you and your leadership, as well as your senior officials, that there is no military solution to the conflict. I told you: There is! History has shown that I was right. It was! I think those who said "there is no military option" now understand themselves that there was one, because they simply wanted to keep the current situation as it is," President Ilham Aliyev said.
The Azerbaijani president reminded the crushed diplomats how a few years ago the French first made a statement about the unacceptability of the status quo, but after some time they changed their words to "the status quo is unstable." In other words, the meaning of the statement was completely changed, and now it sounded in support of the status quo, and the only thing that the intermediaries were concerned about was its instability. Azerbaijan did not allow it to be made stable and, as promised to the Azerbaijani people by the President, the territorial integrity was restored.
At the end of his speech at that December 2020 meeting, President Ilham Aliyev said: "I did not invite the Minsk Group to visit. But when I was informed that the Minsk Group wanted to come, I said: let them come, I don't mind. Maybe they have something to tell me."
The Co-Chairs had nothing to say. They had nothing to say during all the years of the Minsk Group's existence.
Armenia resisted for a long time. Yerevan's response to Baku's proposal for a joint appeal to the OSCE was vague. Until September 2023, someone somewhere else had hopes of preserving at least something for Armenia.
In June 2022, at the conference of the Parliamentary Network of the Non-Aligned Movement, President Ilham Aliyev said that the Minsk Group was no longer necessary, we said goodbye to the Minsk Group, we said goodbye to them. "However, unfortunately, the Armenian side and others want to resurrect this group. I want to say that it is impossible. This group is already dead, lifeless. We suffered greatly from the occupation and we speak about it openly. I think any speculation related to the OSCE Minsk Group is not only unproductive, but also destructive, has a devastating impact on the establishment of peace in the region," the head of state stressed.
It was only after the anti-terrorist operation, the results of which were eventually accepted by the whole world, that the hopes of the Armenian side disappeared.
In April of this year, when receiving the newly appointed OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu, President Ilham Aliyev once again stated that it was high time to abolish the OSCE Minsk Group, which had completely failed in the settlement of the former Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, and all related institutions. The Head of State stressed that Azerbaijan has fully secured its territorial integrity and sovereignty through military and political means, thereby ensuring the establishment of the norms and principles of the Helsinki Final Act and international law in the South Caucasus.
Perhaps if the MG Co-Chairs, represented by the permanent members of the UN Security Council and the world powers, had made efforts to establish the norms and principles of international law in the South Caucasus, the lands could have been returned without blood. But they couldn't, or rather, they didn't want to do it. Each of the powers had its own calculations and its own interests. No one expected Azerbaijan to solve the problem without taking into account these calculations and interests.
The President of Azerbaijan has his own calculations based on the national interests of his country, and other people's interests are not even the third in line here.