The European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, with 55 votes in favor and 5 abstentions, adopted a new report that condemns Azerbaijan for its continue aggression against Armenia and Armenians of Artsakh. The report was submitted to the European Parliament for approval.
The report calls on Azerbaijan to withdraw its troops from the territory of Armenia, emphasizes that any peace treaty must include the territorial integrity of Armenia, the rights and security of the Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh, the quick and safe return of refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes and praises the work done by Armenia in the direction of democratic reforms, as a result of which Armenia has become a leader of democracy in the region.
The report strongly condemns the large-scale military attack on Armenia by Azerbaijan in September 2022, which violated previous attempts to achieve peace and led to the occupation of the sovereign territory of Armenia by Azerbaijani forces.
Emphasizing that this latest aggression has nothing to do with the long-term conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, the report calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to withdraw troops from all parts of Armenian territory.
The report also urges the governments of both countries to work toward a comprehensive and mutually acceptable peace treaty, and urges the EU to continuously engage, mediate and effectively contribute to the peaceful resolution of the conflict.
The report also reaffirms that for effectiveness, any peace treaty should include provisions that guarantee the integrity of Armenia’s sovereign territory, the rights and security of the Armenian population living in Nagorno-Karabakh and other conflict-affected regions, and the swift and safe return of refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes.
The report welcomes the full entry into force of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement in March 2021 and Armenia’s commitment to implementing it.
The members of the European Parliament also praise Armenia for the significant reforms implemented in recent years, the democratization process, as a result of which the country has become a leader of democracy in the region. The report also calls on the European Union and Armenia to work closely on the implementation of current and future reforms within the framework of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, stressing that it covers a wide scope of joint work.
“The report on EU-Armenia relations once again reaffirms the European Parliament’s commitment to peace in the region and cooperation between Armenia and the EU in a number of important areas. As an important step in this direction, we welcome the deployment of the EU mission in Armenia and call on the government of Azerbaijan to guarantee the freedom and safety of movement through the Lachin Corridor, which has been blocked for almost 2 months,” said the European Parliament rapporteur Andrey Kovatchev after the vote.
