The chair of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee has warned that Azerbaijan should suffer “serious consequences” if there is a further deterioration in the treatment of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan seized the disputed majority ethnic Armenian region last week, following which upwards of 13,500 people have reportedly fled to Armenia. Many of these refugees “know [they] aren’t going back,” as Armenia’s prime minister warns that ethnic cleansing is “underway.”
Brussels has played a central role in the fallout of Azerbaijan’s military offensive, with officials from Baku—the Azerbaijani capital—and Yerevan—the capital of Armenia—arranging to meet in the city later today. This is the first such scheduled meeting since the events of last week.
Foreign affairs committee chair David McAllister told The Guardian that “this weekend’s developments in Nagorno-Karabakh underscore the serious concern for the Armenian population there.” Highlighting the view that Brussels should be leading the response to the offensive, the German politician added:
[The EU] should make it clear that any attempt to remove or coerce the Armenian population from the Nagorno-Karabakh region will have serious consequences for our relations with Azerbaijan.
Further concerns have been raised today in the latest of many Armenian-Azerbaijani conflicts over the region following reports of a fuel depot explosion, which is believed to have left at least 20 dead. Hundreds of others have been hospitalised. In this ongoing conflict, Azerbaijan has also been open about its hunt for Armenian “war crime” suspects, whom it is seeking out among those fleeing to Armenia.
After today’s meeting in Brussels, the leaders of the two nations will meet next time at the European Political Community summit in Granada, Spain, at the beginning of October.
