The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan committed to recognising a 1991 border arrangement at peace talks between the two warring South Caucasian nations, hosted by the EU in Brussels on Sunday, May 14th.
Both countries have been engaged in a bloody border dispute since 2020 after long-standing tensions over the Nagorno-Karabakh region boiled over.
European Council President Charles Michel welcomed the progress made on the recognition of the territorial integrity of both nations at a trilateral meeting with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Nikos Pashinyan of Armenia.
The delineation of borders and prisoner exchanges were key issues during the talks with President Michel assuring both sides that the EU had no “hidden agenda” in resolving the issue.
Azerbaijan has been accused of engineering a humanitarian crisis through its blockade of Armenian enclaves in the disputed region of Lachin. Ahead of the weekend talks, an Azeri soldier was killed last week in an exchange of fire with the Armenian army.
There is growing hope among EU officials that the conflict can finally be put to bed, following similar high-profile negotiations held in Washington last month, when U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that a settlement was “within reach.”
Despite a call in February in the European parliament for sanctions against Azerbaijan concerning its human rights violations, the EU has ruled against such action.
For its stance, the EU has been accused of ignoring humanitarian abuses committed by Azerbaijan to protect the vital flow of hydrocarbons, with Commission President von der Leyen previously praising Azerbaijan for being a “trustworthy” energy supplier.”
Azerbaijan took a decisive strategic advantage in the conflict after its successful Turkish-backed military operations in 2020. For its part, Armenia sought to guarantee the rights of ethnic Armenians in occupied territories.
For all the talk of progress, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan still sought clarity on remarks made by EU officials that Armenia would be forced to withdraw its troops from disputed areas.
The Armenian government appealed to Russian peacekeepers to break the blockade of the Armenian-populated Lachin region. Following Moscow’s perceived failure to intervene on behalf of Armenia, relations with Russia took a nosedive.
President Aliyev of Azerbaijan was lambasted by human rights organisations earlier this year for inferring that ethnic Armenians could be ethnically cleansed from captured areas.
Brussels deployed a monitoring mission to the border region last year. However, an Azeri whitewashing operation was exposed in January, attempting to manipulate European press coverage. Similar to attempts to integrate the Western Balkans into its sphere of influence, Brussels is seeking to expand its influence into the post-Soviet territory, leading Russia to accuse the EU of inflaming tensions in the region.
Unlikely to solve a decades-long ethnic dispute between two mutually antagonistic post-Soviet states, the EU’s lack of resolve to protect the rights of Armenians contrasts markedly with its staunch defence of Ukrainian sovereignty.
