Azerbaijan rejects Armenia talks over mistrust of EU, France

Azerbaijani state media on Wednesday reported that President Ilham Aliyev will not participate in proposed talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan this week.

Aliyev had been invited to attend five-way talks brokered by the European Union and set to take place in Granada, Spain.

The meetings were also to be attended by the leaders of Germany and France, as well as EU Council President Charles Michel.

The talks were set to discuss the future of the Nagorno-Karabakh region — a former ethnic-Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan — that Azerbaijan retook control of in a lightning military operation on September 19, causing a mass exodus of inhabitants and sparking accusations of "ethnic cleansing" from Armenia.

Pashinyan said he intended to travel to Spain for the so-called European Political Community summit regardless, adding that it was a "shame" that Aliyev had backed out.

"We were in a constructive and optimistic mood, because we thought that a turning point document could be signed," said Pashinyan, "Until this morning the likelihood of this was very high."

Azerbaijan irked by French support for Armenia

Aliyev was angered by what he perceived as clear French bias, pointing to comments made Tuesday by French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna speaking in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, the French AFP news agency reported.

Colonna promised that France would supply arms to Armenia to guarantee its security. On Wednesday, she doubled down on her promise, arguing that the EU should send clear signals that threats to Armenia's territorial integrity would not be tolerated — and met with "robust action."

Officials in Baku said the decision also stemmed from what it called an "anti-Azerbaijani atmosphere" created by EU Council President Michel, who criticized the use of military force in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Lastly, Azerbaijan had wanted its ally Turkey — which wholeheartedly supported the military offensive — to host the talks.

Azerbaijani state media on Tuesday said Aliyev was willing to attend three-way talks with Armenia but ruled out any that would include France.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have maintained tense relations for decades, having fought wars in the 1990s and most recently in 2020.

This week's talks were also aimed at reviewing the state of tentative peace between the feuding neighbors.

Berlin presses for negotiated solution

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke with Aliyev on Wednesday to express Berlin's commitment to a negotiation settlement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"The chancellor expressed his rejection of the use of military force," a spokesperson for Scholz said in a statement after Aliyev pulled out of an EU-brokered meeting.

"The chancellor underlined the importance of the greatest possible transparency regarding the situation in and development of Nagorno-Karabakh."

js/sms (AFP, Reuters)