The European Union’s representative to the Caucasus Toivo Klaar’s recent visit to Azerbaijan continued to raise concerns as the diplomat made statements about the Lachin Corridor and the so-called “Zangezur” scheme that were akin to Baku’s official positions.
President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on Wednesday pledged to increase his country’s natural gas supply to Europe and praised a gas supply agreement signed last year, immediately after the Russia-Ukraine conflict erupted, with the EU, which was seeking to stem its reliance on Russian gas.
Hours before the arriving in Baku on Sunday, Azerbaijani forces ambushed an Artsakh police vehicle killing three officers and critically injuring a fourth. While acknowledging what he called the “the deadly incident,” Klaar said in a tweet that it underscores the urgency of pushing forward with negotiations to achieve stability & a fair peace.”
Later during his visit, in an interview with the Azerbaijani APA news agency Klaar seemed to echo Baku’s concerns that Armenia was allegedly transporting questionable materials to Artsakh via the Lachin Corridor and called for mechanism to ensure what he called “transparency.”
“First of all, I think the idea that there should be transparency about what is being transported on the Lachin road is absolutely legitimate. Because we do not want the Lachin road to be used for any shipment of goods that would exacerbate tensions or be used for any military or sort of illicit purposes,” Klaar told APA.
“Transparency is absolutely legitimate,” Klaar reinforced.
“The manner in which this transparency is achieved is, I think, something that is subject to discussions and negotiations. I think there are several ways of doing that. And I believe some of these have been discussed in the past like, for instance, Russians having some additional equipment on the checkpoint to be able to better inspect what is going in and what is going out. Again, I think there are several ways of doing it, I think it is important that this is discussed in detail,” added Klaar.
Baku has proposed installing checkpoint along the Lachin Corridor, an issue that was discussed last week during talks between Azerbaijani and Artsakh representatives. Aliyev reportedly also brought up this issue during talks with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Munich. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, while visiting Baku earlier, ruled out such mechanism along the road, saying the sides must observe the provisions of the November 9, 2020 agreement.
In his interview with the APA agency, Klaar also interpreted that agreement, implying that were provisions that back Azerbaijan’s—and Aliyev’s—demand of a “corridor” through Armenia that connects mainland Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan.
“I think the view in Armenia is true that these are two separate issues. One is the Lachin road, which is covered in one point of the November 2020 Statement, and then there is the connection between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan which is covered in another point of the 2020 Statement,”said Klaar.
“So, from that point of view, these are treated in different areas of that statement. But, in the end, it is a question of discussion, of negotiation. Our view of course is that, indeed, it is legitimate to have transparency, I think it is also important to have, for the people, for the Armenian inhabitants of Karabakh, a sense of security for them to be able to move back and forth,” Klaar added, despite the fact that there is a reference to only one corridor in the November 9, 2020 agreement and that is Lachin Corridor.
Klaar also said that European Council President Charles Michel is eager to host a meeting between Pashinyan and Aliyev.
“Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, wants the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia to come to Brussels again. A few weeks ago, he met with the leaders in Munich. Now we expect that the leaders will meet again in Brussels in the near future,” Klaar told APA.
On Wednesday Aliyev visited Latvia, a former Soviet Republic that is not part of the European Union. There he praised relations between Azerbaijan and the EU and touted the natural gas agreement, which has raised concerns among several European lawmakers and called into question EU’s objectivity as it seeks to mediate peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“Last year, we signed here with the European Commission an important document on strategic partnership in the field of energy. Based on that, we are increasing our [natural] gas supply through the diversified supply routes, which have been created relatively recently. But of course not only energy security is uniting Europe and Azerbaijan. There are many other areas including transportation, education, trade,” Aliyev said in a statement after meeting the Latvia president.
