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Manila Bulletin devider World devider Azerbaijan leader turns down meeting with Armenia PM

Azerbaijan leader turns down meeting with Armenia PM

Published Oct 4, 2023 01:04 pm
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Azeri President Ilham Aliyev attends a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart following their talks in Baku on June 13, 2023. (HANDOUT/ Azerbaijani presidency/AFP)

BAKU, Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev has turned down an EU-hosted meeting with Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan planned this week due to European support for Yerevan, a government official told AFP Wednesday.

Two weeks ago, Aliyev launched a one-day offensive that saw his country regain control of the pro-Armenian separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The talks would have brought together the leaders of the two Caucasus arch-foes on the sidelines of an EU summit in Spain, under the mediation of France, Germany and the European Council.

"Azerbaijan did not consider it necessary to participate in negotiations in this format," an Azerbaijani government official told AFP.

Aliyev would not attend due to "pro-Armenian statements by French officials... and statements on the supply of weapons and ammunition (to Yerevan) on military cooperation", the official told AFP.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on a visit to Armenia Tuesday that Paris had agreed to deliver military equipment to the small South Caucasus nation, without elaborating.

Aliyev decision was also because of "accusations made yesterday by EU Council President Charles Michel", the official added.

He cited an "anti-Azerbaijani atmosphere" and said Baku had wanted the meeting to take place in Turkey, its ally. Ankara has praised Azerbaijan's one-day offensive.

Michel -- who has mediated several meetings between the foes in recent years -- criticised Baku's offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh.

After a lightning offensive by Azerbaijani forces in September 2023, most of the Armenian population fled the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. The separatist authorities there announced that it would be dissolved on 1 January 2024.

It unilaterally proclaimed its independence with the support of Armenia when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Nagorno-Karabakh separatists resisted Baku with the support of Yerevan for three decades, notably during the first Karabakh war from 1988 to 1994 and the second in 2020.

The international community never recognised the self-proclaimed republic.

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