Azerbaijan severs ties with EU Parliament over Nagorno-Karabakh resolution

A diplomatic storm has erupted after the EU Parliament adopted a multi-part resolution on Armenia that contained clauses about Nagorno-Karabakh on Thursday, resulting a Friday vote by the Azerbaijani Parliament to cut ties with the body, as well as the summoning of the EU’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan Marijana Kujundžić.

While the majority of the resolution pertained to ‘supporting democratic resilience in Armenia’, Azerbaijan took issue with the sections that called for the right of return for Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians who fled en masse in 2023 and the release of Armenian prisoners held by Azerbaijan.

The relevant text of the resolution read as follows:

‘[The European Parliament] Reiterates its support for the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, including the protection of their identity, property and cultural heritage, and their right to a safe, unimpeded and dignified return under appropriate international guarantees; calls for those responsible for the destruction of Armenian cultural and religious heritage to be held accountable, and for an international assessment mission’.

The clause was referring to the entire Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, some 100,000 people, who fled after Azerbaijan’s final offensive into the region in 2023.

‘[The European Parliament] Condemns Azerbaijan’s unjust detention of Armenian prisoners of war, detainees and hostages; demands their immediate and unconditional release; notes the steps taken so far and calls for further confidence-building measures; calls for full respect for international humanitarian and human rights law’.

A total of 19 Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians are being held in Azerbaijan, some of whom are still on trial, and others have recently received lengthy prison sentences after being accused of committing war crimes and other associated charges.

Other sections of the resolution applauded the ongoing peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the efforts to normalize Armenia’s relations with Turkey, and also expressed support for growing Armenia–EU ties.

Drawing particular concern over the two sections above, the Azerbaijani Parliament said on Friday that ‘at the core of the European Parliament’s activities lies a decisive rejection of the norms and principles of international law and the concept of justice’.

‘This body has consistently shown disregard for the 30-year occupation of our lands by Armenia, the destruction of hundreds of our cities and villages, our historical, religious, and cultural monuments, ethnic cleansing, and the human rights of more than 1 million refugees and internally displaced persons’, the parliament added.

Later in the statement, the parliament claimed that ‘the European Parliament, where democratic values have collapsed, corruption and bribery have taken deep root, and which serves lobbying groups and various circles of interest, has turned into a structure where Azerbaijanophobic and Islamophobic thinking is consistently expressed’.

As a result, the Azerbaijani Parliament decided to suspend cooperation with the European Parliament ‘in all directions’ and began the process of ‘terminating the membership’ of the Azerbaijani Parliament in the ‘Euronest Parliamentary Assembly’.

Separately, EU Ambassador Kujundžić was summoned by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, where she was told that ‘the unfounded and biased provisions against’ Azerbaijan were ‘condemned’, as well as being handed a ‘note of protest’.

The Foreign Ministry’s statement further claimed that ‘Armenian residents left the region voluntarily’.