European Parliament denounce violations of human rights and international law by Azerbaijan

* Parliament condemns repression of activists, journalists and opposition leaders, at home and abroad

* MEPs say Azerbaijan’s abuses are incompatible with its hosting of COP29

* Call for the withdrawal of troops from Armenian territory

On Thursday, Parliament denounced Azerbaijan’s poor human rights record and called on the EU to end its gas dependency on Baku.

In a resolution adopted today, MEPs strongly condemn the Azerbaijan regime’s longstanding domestic and extraterritorial repression of activists, journalists, opposition leaders, and others, including EU nationals, which has noticeably intensified ahead of the upcoming 29th United Nations Climate Change conference (COP29) in Baku on 11 to 22 November. MEPs argue that Azerbaijan’s ongoing human rights abuses are incompatible with its hosting of the climate conference and encourage EU leaders such as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to use the gathering as an opportunity to address the country’s poor track record in this field.

Parliament also calls on the government in Baku to cease all forms of repression in and beyond Azerbaijan, release all persons arbitrarily detained and drop all politically motivated charges.

Europe’s gas dependency on Azerbaijan must end

Citing Azerbaijan’s continuous human rights abuses and fears that increased gas imports from Azerbaijan to the EU might be compensated in turn by Baku importing Russian gasMEPs call for the EU’s dependency on gas exports from Azerbaijan to end. They also ask the European Commission to suspend the 2022 Memorandum of Understanding on the Strategic Partnership in the field of energy between the EU and Azerbaijan.

In addition, the resolution states that any future partnership agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan must be made conditional on Baku releasing political prisoners, implementing legal reforms, improving the overall human rights situation in the country as well as demonstrating its genuine readiness to faithfully engage in peace negotiations with neighbouring Armenia following the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan must withdraw troops from Armenia’s sovereign territory

Reaffirming their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of both Azerbaijan and Armenia, MEPs advocate for the normalisation of relations between the two countries and the signing of a long-awaited peace agreement. They also call for the withdrawal of all Azerbaijani troops from the entirety of Armenia’s sovereign territory, respect for the relevant decisions of the International Court of Justice, and the release of the 23 Armenian prisoners of war detained following Azerbaijan’s retaking of the Nagorno-Karabakh region last year. Parliament calls on the member states to freeze the exports of all military and security equipment to Azerbaijan, while warning that further Azerbaijani military action against Armenia would be met by serious consequences.

The resolution was adopted by 453 votes in favour, 31 against with 89 abstentions.