Azerbaijan took note of the decision of the Council of the European Union on the creation of the EU Civil Mission in Armenia. Azerbaijani is still adhered to a firm position in relation to such activities, including the process of delimitation of borders, which should be carried out exclusively on a bilateral basis, and this activity is not in any way In case of case should not be used in order to damage the normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia. This is stated in the statement of the Azerbaijani foreign policy in connection with the creation of the Civil Mission in Armenia to “promote the settlement of the situation in the Caucasus.”
The deployment of the EU mission in Armenia should be ensured properly taking into account the legitimate interests of Azerbaijan, to be carried out in such a way as not to undermine mutual trust. The Azerbaijani side expects that in the process of discussing the beginning of the EU mission, maximum caution will be shown to extract the necessary lessons from past experience, the statement said.
The document notes that the monitoring activity of the European Union in Armenia began with the placement of a civil monitoring mission, following an agreement reached on October 6, 2022 at a meeting in Prague between the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, France and the head of the EU Council. Azerbaijan agreed to this, believing that this activity would contribute to the normalization process.
Despite the clearly defined parameters and goals of a two -month mission, agreed at the highest level, the activities of the monitoring mission were accompanied by serious deviations from the agreements reached in Prague, due to the biased attitude of some EU members. This, in turn, affected general confidence in the reliability and transparency of decision -making in the EU.
The presence of the EU monitoring mission in Armenia coincided with the strengthening of Armenia’s attempts to disrupt the process of normalization in three directions, including damage to the tripartite meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the EU Council. Thus, the expectations that the EU mission will contribute to the promotion of the normalization program did not materialize.
Given the interest of the European Union to continue its presence in Armenia upon completion of a two -month civil mission, Azerbaijan acted with good will during consultations with the EU, and also clearly brought the other side to his position, expectation and fears.
During a series of consultations held by Azerbaijan at various levels with EU representatives, the need to participate in Armenia through the mission was not a pretext for evading Armenia from fulfilling obligations. The use of the EU presence against existing dialogue mechanisms is dangerous, and this should be avoided.