The failure of international organizations in the context of conflict resolution: The case of the OSCE Minsk Group

The Karabakh conflict is a problem that has been ongoing from the early 1990s until 2020, with occasional humanitarian tragedies and violent conflicts. The peace talks held from 1992 to 2020 within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group to resolve the conflict failed. The conflict was resolved in 2020, with one side establishing absolute military superiority over the other. Based on this course of events, the study seeks to answer the question of why the Karabakh conflict has been resolved through military means rather than peaceful means despite long years of peace negotiations within the framework of the Karabakh conflict. In response to this question, the study concludes that the nature of the conflict makes it resistant to resolution, hence it is resolved as a result of the absolute domination of one party over the other. Based on William Zartman's approach to intractable conflicts, the problem is examined in terms of identity differences between the parties, the impact of prolonged "frozen" conflict on the negotiation phase, the polarization of solutions, whether the parties have reached the necessary maturity to resolve the conflict, and whether the parties see any gain in the continuation of the conflict. In this context, it is concluded that the Karabakh conflict is an example of a difficult conflict and due to these factors, peace negotiations failed and were resolved by military means.