MEETING OF MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS WITH AZERI

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001595 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV UNGA AJ AM SUBJECT: MEETING OF MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS WITH AZERI PERMREP ON DRAFT RESOLUTION REF: SECSTATE 132341 Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Minsk Group Co-chair reps met with Azeri PermRep Aliyev August 18 to discuss the Azeri draft GA resolution regarding the fires that have been raging since June in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Ambassador Wolff delivered reftel points, which were endorsed by the other Co-chairs. Aliyev agreed with the need for a constructive and inclusive initiative, but expressed frustration with the lack of response from the Secretariat to requests for assistance made by his government. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) U.S., Russian, and French Mission reps met with Azeri PR Aliyev at his request to discuss Azerbaijan,s appeal to present their draft resolution on the fires in Nagorno-Karabakh to the General Assembly for adoption. French DPR LaCroix and Russian DPR Shcherbak agreed with the negative U.S. reaction to the resolution, presented by Ambassador Wolff (reftel). ¶3. (SBU) Aliyev confirmed that he has already met bilaterally with both the U.S. and Russian reps. He questioned the conclusions drawn by the OSCE fact-finding mission, claiming that no ecology expert had participated in the mission, and remarked that the fires are almost exclusively along the Line of Contact and are continuing to spread. In the midst of this negative situation, Aliyev sees &a small light for breakthrough8 in the form of international assistance by UNEP and various European agencies, in particular OSCE. He said that the most significant part of the OSCE mission,s report was the call for international assistance and stressed that an environmental operation with the participation of all concerned parties would be &ideal.8 Aliyev then distributed a letter from the government of Armenia expressing willingness to cooperate with Azerbaijan in environmental operations. ¶4. (SBU) The Co-chairs expressed a shared concern over Azerbaijan,s decision to table a draft resolution that does not reflect the government,s ongoing promises of cooperation. LaCroix stressed the need to work within the framework of OSCE and focus on practical firefighting methods, putting aside the draft resolution, as it does not tackle the issue in a concrete manner. Shcherbak also emphasized the need for practical assistance, perhaps modeled after the current CIS peacekeeping force in Georgia. Amb. Wolff, backed by LaCroix and Shcherbak, underlined that the U.S. cannot support the resolution on account of its overly aggressive and accusatory content. Amb. Wolff also noted that circulating the resolution might discourage UNEP and other international actors from addressing the environmental situation, as they would be reluctant to engage in a politically charged issue. ¶5. (SBU) Aliyev defended the actions taken by the Azeri government by claiming that the UN and OSCE have applied a &double standard8 to the Nagorno-Karabakh fires. According to Aliyev, the Azeri Foreign Minister sent a letter on July 25 to the OSCE Chairman-in-Office requesting assistance in combating the fires and sent a similar letter on July 28 to the Executive Director of UNEP. Furthermore, Aliyev claimed that on July 28 he had presented to Assistant SYG Angela Kane a request by the Azeri PM for SYG assistance. Aliyev alleged that he was still awaiting replies from all three, calling the lack of response &an additional burden.8 He then called to the Co-Chairs, attention an address made to the Security Council by the Charge d,Affaires of the Lebanese Mission to the UN on June 26, requesting UN assistance in cleaning up the oil spills caused by aerial bombing. Aliyev claimed that by August 4, UNEP and OCHA had already investigated the environmental situation and returned with a coordinated response, thereby implying that the UN does not attach the same gravity to the environmental crisis in his region as it does to Lebanon,s (Note: According to UNEP,s website, the first update from the joint UNEP/OCHA mission in Lebanon is dated July 27; the second update is dated August ¶4. End Note). The meeting ended without a promise by Aliyev to freeze the draft resolution, since he needed to report back to capital for guidance on this point. Amb. Wolff likewise assured Aliyev that we would urge the Secretariat to respond in a timely manner to Azerbaijan,s requests. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: Aliyev,s approach was much less aggressive than that he exhibited in prior conversations on the subject with the U.S. and Russian missions, respectively. His lengthy description of efforts to secure Secretariat attention to Azerbaijan,s requests suggest that the draft resolution, with its aggressive tone, may have been designed in large part to get our collective attention - and to use the Co-chair Missions to press the UN, OSCE, and others to pay attention to Azerbaijan,s appeals. BOLTON