The Azerbaijani president and the Armenian prime minister have been invited to meet before the end of the month in Brussels to try to reduce the strong tensions between their two countries, the President of the European Council Charles Michel announced on Thursday.
However, on the day of this announcement, Azerbaijani head of state Ilham Aliyev did not attend a European summit during which the subject was to be discussed.
“I indicated that I would invite the two leaders [MM. Aliyev et Nikol Pachinian] for a meeting in Brussels by the end of October,” Mr. Michel said in an interview with Agence France-Presse in Granada, southern Spain, on the sidelines of the summit of the European Political Community (EPC, an organization aiming to strengthen ties between the European Union and those who share its values without being members).
Shortly before, Azerbaijan had assured that it was ready for talks with Armenia under the mediation of the European Union, after its victorious offensive in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where the soldiers of the Russian interposition force dismantled accordingly their installations.
“The dismantling of observation posts on the front line has been completed” in three districts, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday. This peacekeeping contingent is present as part of the ceasefire agreement which ended previous hostilities in this area in 2020.
Vladimir Putin, for his part, judged on Thursday that the resumption of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan was “inevitable”, after criticism from the Armenian government, which accused Russia of inaction.
This “was inevitable after the recognition of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty [sur le Karabakh] by the Armenian authorities,” said the Russian president, specifying that Armenia was “always” Moscow’s ally.
“It was only a matter of time before Azerbaijan began to restore constitutional order in this region,” he added.
“Tripartite meetings”
Shortly before Mr. Michel’s announcement of a meeting between the Azerbaijani president and the Armenian prime minister, Hikmet Hajiyev, an advisor to Mr. Aliyev, had indicated that his country was “ready to participate in meetings in Brussels soon tripartite between the European Union, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The Azerbaijani army has just won a lightning victory against the Armenian separatists of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has since been emptied of almost its entire population.
On the eve of the discussions in Grenada, Ilham Aliyev declared that he would not participate, due to an “anti-Azerbaijani atmosphere”, according to an Azerbaijani official. The head of the Armenian government, who was present in southern Spain on Thursday, deplored this decision.
Azerbaijan chose to abstain because of France’s “policy of militarization” in the Caucasus, the European Union’s attitude towards the region and Turkey’s absence , which does not amount to “refusing discussions with Armenia”, insisted the same official.
The head of French diplomacy Catherine Colonna affirmed on Tuesday that Paris had “given its agreement” to the delivery of military equipment to Armenia, which wishes to protect itself from its Azerbaijani neighbor.
French President Emmanuel Macron, however, took care to affirm Thursday in Grenada that the time was “not for sanctions” against Azerbaijan and that it was necessary to continue discussing with this country to “protect as best as possible” Armenia. , while these two states have accused each other of shooting at their respective troops near the border.
In Granada, the Armenian prime minister met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said kyiv wanted “stability” in the Caucasus and “friendly relations with its nations.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan opposed each other during two wars, one at the time of the dislocation of the USSR, the other in the fall of 2020, for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
Armenia now fears that its powerful neighbor, much richer and better armed, will launch operations in the south of its territory.