The decision to set up the OSCE fact-finding mission was made after Azerbaijan put the issue of Armenians? settlement in the occupied lands on the agenda of the UN General Assembly session. -Only a democratic development in Azerbaijan and Armenia will garanty a peaceful solution of the conflict, the chairman of the Azerbaijan Popular Front party, Ali Kerimli, said in a meeting with the Norwegian Helsinki Committe, Human Rights House Foundation and Amnesty International  when he visited Oslo yesterday. (2-FEB-2005)

The OSCE fact-finding mission already started to conduct monitoring in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, led by a German delegation. Official Baku has submitted the facts related to the illegal settlement of Armenians in the occupied Azerbaijani territories to the mission members on January 28, when the mission met with the Azerbaijani president. The information on the use of the occupied territories for illegal drug trafficking and organized crime was also submitted to the Mission.
The OCSE fact finding team, which will be headed by a department director of the German Federal Foreign Ministry Emilia Hader, is expected to prepare a report on the results of the monitoring within the following 10 days after visiting the occupied territories. The mission?s credentials do not include giving any political assessments. A report to be prepared by the mission will be presented to the Vienna-based Permanent Council and the OSCE member states. 

Access to the occupied territories
The mission travelled towards Azerbaijan?s Khankandi region under Armenian occupation passing through Armenia. According to the Azerbaijan Foreign Minister, the fact the OSCE mission will pass through Armenia is not a pivotal issue for Azerbaijan. ?The report to be prepared by the mission represents importance for Baku?, he said.

Deputy Foreign Minister, President?s special envoy on Upper Garabagh Araz Azimov, in turn, regarded this as “a technical and temporary step”, as there is no other alternative. Azimov added that the mission must guarantee that relocation of Armenians to the occupied Azerbaijani lands will stop.  The chairman of the Azerbaijan Popular Front party, Ali Kerimli, means the azerbaijanian government has to little support in the population to dear to take any further steps solving the conflict. A peaceful solution is dependent on the political development in Armenia and Azerbaijan, he said in a meeting in Oslo yesterday with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights House Foundation and Amnesty International.

Brief history of the conflict
Azerbaijan has lost its control over Nagorno Karabakh and seven adjacent regions to it after the fierce fighting with Armenia. The conflict was frozen by the ceasefire reached on May 12, 1994. As a consequence of the Armenian aggression more than a million Azerbaijani people turned to be refugees and IDPs and now they all live throughout the country. Majority of the refugees and IDPs have settled in tent camps, unused cargo trains, dug-outs, while some live in student dormitories. At present, twenty percent of Azerbaijani territory is under the Armenian occupation.

Illegal settlement to be studied
In a statement on behalf of the mission, Russian co-chair of the Minsk Group Yuri Merzlyakov said that according to the agreement reached with Baku, the mission experts will visit all the seven occupied Azerbaijani regions around Nagorno Karabakh to look into the illegal settlement of Armenians. The mission is expected to will visit occupied Azerbaijani regions – Kalbajar, Lachin, Jabrayil, Gubadly, Zangilan, including Shusha – where Armenians were purposefully settled. ?It is helpful and the materials presented by Azerbaijani government officials will be thoroughly studied? Mr. Merzlyakov said.
 ?There are no reasons for concerns over possible attempts by Armenians to hide the territories that Azerbaijan considers important. Armenia stands a poor chance at deceiving the mission? Azerbaijan deputy Foreign Minister said. He also noted that the mission representatives will be responsible for visiting those areas and expressed confidence that they will properly fulfil their duties.

23,000 Armenians Settled in Occupied Territories
?Armenia is directly involved in settlement of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan? Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov said. ?Settlement of the territories is taking place with direct participation of Armenia. Around 23,000 people were settled there?. Mr. Azimov notes that settlement of the occupied territories does not positively affect the course of the talks of settling the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Karabakh Armenians Not to Take Part in Negotiations, MFA Says
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammedyarov told journalists today that Karabakh Armenians cannot take part in negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan on settling the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Interfax reported today.
“According to the OSCE document of 1992, Azerbaijan and Armenia are the opposing sides in this conflict and the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno-Karabakh are only involved parties,” Mammedyarov told journalists following his negotiations with Bernard Fascia, the new co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group from France.

Concerns
The Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) has issued a statement voicing concerns over some facts related to the OSCE mission?s expected visit. It says that the mission does not include any representatives of Azerbaijan and will conduct monitoring only in the areas outside Upper Garabagh?s administrative borders, but not all the occupied territories.
GLO said that such a make-up of the OSCE mission confirms the pro-Armenian stance of international entities.
“This once again shows that Azerbaijan should reject the false mediation of international organizations and talks on all levels, and liberate lands from Armenian occupation through military action.”