Azerbaijan, Armenia jointly urge OSCE to dissolve Minsk Group and related mechanisms

Azerbaijan and Armenia have formally appealed to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to bring the longstanding Minsk Process and its affiliated structures to a close, says a statement by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Following the Joint Appeal by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Republic of Armenia to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on the closure of OSCE’s Minsk Process and related structures (Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on the Conflict Dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference and the High-Level Planning Group), today, the draft OSCE Ministerial Council Decision on closure was circulated among the OSCE participating States, where they have been called for the support of necessary procedures with the view of its adoption,” the ministry stated, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

The joint initiative represents a significant diplomatic development, marking the first time the two countries have united to request the formal termination of the OSCE’s decades-long mediation framework, which was originally established to resolve the conflict between the two nations.

The Minsk Group, co-chaired by France, Russia, and the United States, had long served as the primary international mediation format between Armenia and Azerbaijan. However, following the 2020 Second Karabakh War and subsequent diplomatic efforts led through alternative formats, including trilateral and regional agreements, its relevance and functionality have been increasingly questioned.

By Vafa Guliyeva