Azerbaijan: French arms to Armenia could trigger new conflict in region

Azerbaijan's president has rebuked the European Union and warned that France's decision to send military aid to Armenia could trigger a new conflict in the South Caucasus after a lightning Azerbaijani military operation helped Baku regain total control of Karabakh last month.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev last week pulled out of an EU-brokered meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at which Brussels said it was standing by Armenia.

But Aliyev criticised the EU's approach — and particularly France's position — when European Council, Charles Michel, telephoned him, according to an Azerbaijani statement issued late on Saturday.

President Aliyev said "that due to the well-known position of France, Azerbaijan did not participate in the meeting in Granada", the Azerbaijani presidential office said.

During the telephone conversation, Aliyev said that “including Azerbaijan in the quadrilateral statement without the participation of Azerbaijan in Granada was not the right approach”.

“The provision of weapons by France to Armenia was an approach that was not serving peace, but one intended to inflate a new conflict, and if any new conflict occurs in the region, France would be responsible for causing it,” said Aliyev.

“The anti-Azerbaijani statement adopted by the European Parliament on the basis of a xenophobic and chauvinistic approach and the opinions expressed in it were unacceptable, adding that this did not serve peace and stability in the region,” he said.

Michel expressed the bloc’s commitment to the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalisation process ahead of a trilateral meeting in Brussels.

Protesting against French moves

On Thursday, the EU invited the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia for the peace talks in Brussels by the end of October.

“We believe in diplomacy and political dialogue. This is why we invite Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the meeting,” Michel said following a quadrilateral meeting with Pashinyan on the sidelines of the European Political Community meeting in Granda, Spain.

Hikmat Hajiyev, foreign policy advisor to the Azerbaijani president, said Baku had proposed the participation of Türkiye and Spain in a planning meeting, but that proposal was also rejected by France.

The meeting was scheduled to be held on the sidelines of the third summit of the European Political Community, which was an initiative of Macron to which leaders from more than 40 European countries were invite d.

Azerbaijan regained full control over its territory of Karabakh last month after taking counter-terrorism actions, which resulted in the surrender of illegal armed groups, ending a decades-long conflict.

Authorities have repeatedly said they will protect the rights and ensure the security of the Armenian residents in Karabakh, in accordance with Azerbaijan's law.