‘EU should reconsider its relations with Azerbaijan’ – MEPs debate to condemn Baku’s actions in Nagorno-Karabakh

« The EU should reconsider the relationship with Azerbaijan, Estonian Member of the European Parliament Marina Kaljurand demanded during a plenary session of the European Parliament on Baku’s military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday.
« The EU should reconsider its relations with Azerbaijan and make them conditional. We have to stop with appeasement. There must be immediate consequences for the Aliev regime, » Estonian Member of the European Parliament (MEP) said.
« Its response should include sanctioning of responsible Azerrbaijani authorities, halt of negotiations on a new EU-Azerbaijan agreement, halt of visa facilitation agreement and termination of the gas deal, » she added.
Stella Kyriakides, a Cypriot MEP claimed there is a ‘pressing need for ‘transparency’ as well as access for humanitarian and human rights actors.
« It remains crucial that Armenia and Azerbaijan return to dialogue and show positive steps towards border delimitation, security, connectivity, humanitarian issues and the broader peace treaty, » she concluded.
Following the plenary debate a resolution on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue will be put to a vote on Thursday.
The long-running conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated on Tuesday, September 19, with the beginning of what Azerbaijan called a ‘counter-terrorist operation’ in the region. On the same day, Moscow called on the parties to the conflict to declare a ceasefire and start negotiations.
Azerbaijan accused Armenia of ‘systematic shelling of its army positions’ and announced ‘anti-terrorist measures of a local nature’ in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stated that the only way to achieve peace in the region was ‘unconditional and complete withdrawal of the Armenian Armed Forces from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and dissolution of the so-called regime’.For his part, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan claimed that there were no Armenian Armed Forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Armenian Foreign Ministry called the events a ‘large-scale aggression’.
The following day, the Defence Ministry of the self-proclaimed NKR (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic) said that its authorities had decided to lay down arms for a ceasefire from 13:00 local time (09:00 GMT). Baku also announced the suspension of its ‘anti-terrorist measures’.Nagorno-Karabakh – formerly an autonomous region of the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, with a predominantly ethnic Armenian population – broke away from Azerbaijan in the final years of the USSR, establishing a self-proclaimed, independent but internationally-unrecognised entity.
Baku claims sovereignty over the territory, and after a major war in 2020 regained control over large parts of the region. In May 2023, the Yerevan government recognised Azerbaijan’s claim to the territory but also called for protection for the region’s ethnic Armenians. »



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