Azerbaijan’s president scolded the European Union and warned that France’s decision to send military aid to Armenia could trigger a new conflict in the South Caucasus after a lightening Azerbaijani military operation last month.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev last week pulled out of an EU-brokered meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at which Brussels said it was standing by Armenia.
But Aliyev criticised the EU’s approach – and particularly France’s position – when European Council, Charles Michel, telephoned him, according to an Azerbaijani statement issued late on Saturday.
President Aliyev said “that due to the well-known position of France, Azerbaijan did not participate in the meeting in Granada,” the Azerbaijani presidential office said.
“The head of state emphasized that the provision of weapons by France to Armenia was an approach that was not serving peace, but one intended to inflate a new conflict, and if any new conflict occurred in the region, France would be responsible for causing it.”
France has agreed on future contracts with Armenia to supply it with military equipment to help ensure its defences, Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on Oct. 3 during a visit to Yerevan.
