For nearly three decades, the world watched as negotiations over Garabagh dragged on, producing endless reports, summit meetings, and diplomatic formulas. The OSCE Minsk Group, hailed as the key to peace, became a stage for promises without results. While the co-chairs debated, Armenia maintained its occupation, and Azerbaijan’s sovereignty remained frozen on paper. Yet behind the scenes, Baku was quietly preparing, combining patient diplomacy with strategic strength. When the 44-day war erupted in 2020, it was not a sudden shock; it was the culmination of years of careful planning, revealing that real power on the ground outweighs endless conferences and biased mediation.

Established in March 1992, the Minsk Group brought together Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Germany, Italy, Russia, Türkiye, Sweden, Finland, and later France. Its stated purpose was to mediate a peaceful resolution of the conflict. In practice, however, it failed to deliver meaningful results for decades. Despite the ceasefire of February 1994, no significant progress was made toward restoring Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. High-level engagements, including President Heydar Aliyev’s 1997 meeting with French President Jacques Chirac, strengthened the framework in theory but yielded little in practice.

Structural limitations and biased mediation were at the heart of the group’s ineffectiveness. Dominance by the co-chairs, the United States, Russia, and France, marginalized other member states and limited potential........

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