Azerbaijan has demanded the withdrawal of the EU Monitoring Mission in Armenia and for ‘restrictions’ to be placed on the Armenian armed forces.
On Saturday, Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev told Politico that a new agreement on their joint border commission ‘should be seen as sufficient for the withdrawal of the EU contingent’, adding that progress had been made in talks with Armenia.
The statement came a day after the two sides announced they had agreed details of how the border delimitation commission would work to determine the remainder of their shared border. The agreement still needs to be ratified. Both sides had previously agreed to reach this stage in the process by 1 July.
The EU deployed a civilian observer mission to the Armenian side of the border with Azerbaijan in February 2023 at Armenia’s request, and after several incursions by Azerbaijani forces that led to swathes of Armenian territory being occupied. Both Russia and Azerbaijan have criticised the mission since its deployment.
In February Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry accused the mission of becoming ‘an agent of “binoculars diplomacy” facilitating the visits of different European officials and unofficial delegations to the border areas’. They added that such visits ‘without exception, are used for disseminating anti-Azerbaijani hate and replicating unfounded Azerbaijan-phobia’.
The following day, Hajiyev also demanded that ‘restrictions’ be imposed on the Armenian armed forces similar to those imposed on Iraq after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
Hajiyev called Armenia an ‘invader’ and ‘aggressor’ state, claiming that it has been among only a few such states since World War II.
On Monday, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov also criticised Armenia, stating that its military budget had ‘increased by almost 50%’, which he said was an ‘impediment to peace and stability in the region.’
‘The wrong policy of Armenia in this field and the inflammatory support provided by some countries to Armenia remain a threat in the region. Armenia should seriously reconsider the steps it is taking if it is sincerely interested in the peace process,’ he said.
Hajiyev’s statements were condemned in Armenia, with Seyran Ohanyan, a member of the opposition Armenia Alliance and former Defence Minister accusing Azerbaijan of being a ‘criminal, aggressor state’.
‘Azerbaijan itself, being a criminal, aggressor state, wants to wrap the necks of the Armenian people with various sanctions applied against an aggressor state. All those sanctions must be implemented against Azerbaijan,’ he said.
Hajiyev’s statements came in response to statements made by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Saturday, in which he denounced Azerbaijani criticism of Armenia’s acquisition of foreign weaponry. Pashinyan pointed out that Azerbaijan was also purchasing weapons from other countries, including EU member states.
‘There is the following trend in Azerbaijan, they say that extra-regional countries are arming Armenia, referring to France. But it is obvious, and public, that Azerbaijan, for example, is buying weapons from Italy. It’s a country next to France, why can Azerbaijan acquire weapons from Italy, and Armenia can’t acquire weapons from France?’ asked Pashinyan.
‘They say the EU, the West are arming Armenia. But Azerbaijan is acquiring weapons from Slovakia, Serbia, Bulgaria. At least three EU member countries have military-technical cooperation with Azerbaijan’, he added.
Pashinyan also reiterated his offer to develop bilateral arms control mechanisms, and stressed that it was the right of every country to have a ‘strong and combat ready army’.
He also cited experts as suggesting that Azerbaijan’s claims that Armenia’s constitution contained territorial claims against Azerbaijan was meant as a distraction to territorial claims against Armenia in the Azerbaijani constitution.
