Kanat Saudabayev pays a purely cognitive visit to the region

PanARMENIAN.Net - By the way, Baku was eager to make use of Movlud Chavushoglu’s appointment as PACE President too, but, roughly speaking, she tripped up the Turkish parliamentarians. Sometimes it seems that on the one hand OSCE continues devoting much time to the Karabakh conflict simply out of habit, having adapted itself to the idea that the parties will never come to an agreement. On the other hand, the Organization is not going to give the already established mechanism of “settlement” into someone else’s clumsy hands, for example, into those of UN. The examples of Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan are enough to know how the United Nations is able to regulate conflicts. In the end, all the calls of UN are reduced to the assistance from NATO, and then we get what we get: instability, war and a long post-war restoration period, if it is ever possible for Iraq or Afghanistan. Nevertheless, the initiative of the new Chairman-in-Office is worth praising: probably, like his predecessors, he is eager to settle the conflict.

However, it must also be stressed that Kanat Saudabayev’s visit to the region is purely cognitive and no serious statements should be expected from him. In contrast to Baku, Yerevan adequately responds to statements of the officials visiting the region, never ascribing to them what they haven’t said. This mainly refers to the notorious “territorial integrity of Azerbaijan”, which, according to the Azerbaijani propaganda, receives support from the whole world.

But let us revert to the visit of the OSCE chairman. Kazakhstan, which markets itself as a new Asian power thanks to her wealth and geographical location, can definitely play a constructive role in regulating conflicts in the South Caucasus as a whole. And as a guarantee to this can serve the good relations of Kazakhstan with all nations that are directly or indirectly involved in the situation leading to instability in the region. Besides, Kazakhstan is a CSTO member and her allied relations with Armenia are much more serious than the “Turkic solidarity”, which is remembered about only during the congresses of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Attempts of Baku to play a major role in the OIC cannot be accepted either by Turkey or by Kazakhstan. The position of Kazakhstan as the OSCE chairman should be viewed from this perspective only. A country that geographically is not part of Europe may become a more reliable “East-West” bridge than Turkey.

“During its chairmanship in the OSCE, Kazakhstan intends to give a real impetus to the Karabakh conflict settlement. We are convinced that regulation of the conflict primarily depends on the parties directly involved in this conflict. All the other players are assistants that sincerely wish and intend to lend a hand for peaceful regulation of the problem that does not create conditions for stable development of the region,” said the OSCE Chairman in Yerevan. According to him, Astana cherishes a cautious optimism about future developments around this situation. He also noted that Kazakhstan is well aware of the Karabakh-Azerbaijan conflict history. “In addition to the efforts made by our predecessors in the OSCE, and the results obtained by all parties involved in the process of conflict regulation, Kazakhstan has some additional resources, such as knowledge of the conflict history, some historical and mental community and, of course, respect and confidence enjoyed by the Head of Kazakhstan among the conflicting sides,” Saudabayev said.