OSCE MG U.S. Co-chair visits Baku to scold Aliyev?

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. Co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, ambassador James Warlick paid a visit to Baku to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

According to local media reports, the two men “exchanged views on Azerbaijani-U.S. relations and the Nagorno Karabakh settlement.”

Earlier, Azerbaijan Press Agency, citing a diplomatic source, reported that the Co-chairs will visit the region during the first week of November. The mediators will arrive in Baku and then leave for Yerevan to continue efforts armed at resolution of Karabakh conflict and organization of a presidential meeting in the end of the month, the report said.

It’s not ruled out that Warlick’s early visit is linked to the recent ceasefire violation registered at the contact line between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan during the OSCE mission monitoring, which was immediately stopped after shots fired from the Azeri side.

“Following the usual exchange of security guarantees by local commanders on both sides of the line of contact, members of both OSCE teams heard shooting as they approached their observation points. Safety and security concerns prompted the Personal Representative to abandon the exercise,” Minsk Group Co-chairs and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk said a statement issued after the incident.

However, they said “it was not possible to determine from where the shots were fired.”

“The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group are aware that all those involved in facilitating OSCE monitoring exercises show a high degree of professionalism. They believe that this exceptional and regrettable incident undermines the work of these individuals, and of the Personal Representative and his team, as well as the ceasefire agreement of May 1994. The Co-chairs urge the relevant authorities to investigate it thoroughly and impartially,” the statement said.

Probably, finding no courage to scold Azerbaijan for provocative behavior and call it to account, one of the OSCE MG Co-chairs personally visited Baku to reprimand Aliyev for the lack of any restraint.