The attitudes of Armenian people towards the OSCE Minsk Group could scarcely be more damning, according to the internationally conducted “Comparative Opinion Polls in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh on Socio-Political Issues and Foreign Relations” published by the European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA).

There is extremely low awareness of the group’s work, with only 5% of Armenians saying that they are completely informed and barely a third feeling informed at all. Only a quarter of Armenians think that the OSCE Minsk Group is supportive of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and less than a fifth trust the group.

Fewer than two in five Armenians (38%) think that the OSCE Minsk Group has a role in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process, and, perhaps most damning of all, less than a quarter think that the OSCE Minsk Group is one of the countries or international organisations most interested in a peace deal, despite the fact that this is the OSCE Minsk Group’s entire raison d’etre. Values for the Minsk-Group Co-chair countries Russia (70%) and France (35%) rank much higher.

The OSCE Minsk Group has clearly not managed to communicate to Armenians its relevance and importance to the conflict settlement process, though it is not clear if the reasons for this lie more on the side of the OSCE or more in domestic or other factors.