Ilham Aliyev questioned the honesty of the European Union

Baku/11.01.22/Turan: Sending a new civilian mission of the European Union to Armenia, to the border with Azerbaijan without agreement with Baku, is a violation of the agreements reached initially, the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev  said in an interview with local TV channels on January 10. 

He recalled that the decision to send a civil EU mission to Armenia was made at the Prague meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, the head of the EU Council and the President of France on October 6.

Then it was agreed that the mission of 40 people would be short-term and last 2 months - until December 19th. But after some time, a high-ranking  representative of the EU announced that the mission would be extended, and the head of the French Foreign Ministry repeated this after him. 

Later, the EU violated the agreements reached and decided to send a new mission after the specified period.

“For some reason, the agreement was violated, which is extremely disappointing... If we agreed on something, even verbally, then this must be observed,” Aliyev said. 

He noted that on December 20 a new mission was sent to Armenia, which is regarded as a "deception" of Azerbaijan. “According to our information, a large delegation will be sent there in February and again without our consent,” Aliyev said.

He also drew attention to the fact that the OSCE, in violation of the principle of consensus, decided to send a mission to Armenia. “When this falsification was revealed and we expressed our protest,” Aliyev said.

Further, Aliyev noted that he currently sees Russia and the United States as platforms for negotiations with Armenia. “After the “death” of the Minsk Group, the European Union began to play a mediating role and we supported this, but if they play such games behind our backs, then the future of this format will also be in doubt. France has effectively isolated itself from the process, and now America and Russia remain. This is how we see platforms for negotiations. Of course, Europe can also participate, but if it behaves honestly with us,” Aliyev said. ---06B---