The transfer of our compatriots from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia may take place in the conditions when it is recorded that it is impossible for our compatriots to stay in Nagorno-Karabakh; that is, if this situation continues. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this at Friday’s Cabinet meeting of the Armenian government.
“We assess that this impossibility exists at the moment. If the situation does not improve, that situation will be on the agenda of all of us. But also, I want to inform that back on September 19, that is, the day of the start of [Azerbaijan’s military] operations [in Nagorno-Karabakh], I gave an instruction to Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan to discuss with his government colleagues how, where, and with what we will assist our compatriots in the event of a possible flow of people to Armenia. More than 40,000 places have been prepared; it’s about places to stay, as well as simultaneously in terms of health care, food. This is an agreed position with Nagorno-Karabakh colleagues. Our Plan A is not to de-Armenianize Nagorno-Karabakh. We must do everything in our actions so that our compatriots have the chance to live in their homes without fear, with dignity,” Pashinyan said.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that Armenia bears its share of responsibility but the failures of the Russian peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh shouldn’t be ignored.
Addressing the nation live on Thursday, PM Pashinyan commented on Russian media claims that Armenia is trying to blame Russia for its own failures.
“We are not shifting responsibility of any of our failures on anyone. There is the clear 9 November 2020 trilateral statement, by which the Lachin Corridor was supposed to be under the full control of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, the Russian peacekeeping contingent was supposed to oversee the safety of the civilian population. And we’ve been consistently raising this issue for over one and a half years, raising that the processes aren’t proceeding in the right course. We bear our share of responsibility, but I don’t think that we all should turn a blind eye on the failures that the Russian peacekeeping contingent has had in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Pashinyan said, mentioning the deadly incident in 2022 when Russian peacekeepers had assured a farmer in Nagorno-Karabakh that it was safe to conduct agricultural work but the farmer was shot dead by an Azeri sniper in the presence of the peacekeepers.
“Why did this latest outbreak happen? If the peacekeepers were able to agree a ceasefire, why couldn’t they do so before the attack, so that an attack on Nagorno-Karabakh wouldn’t have happened? After all, we’ve all been warning about this, we were saying that Nagorno-Karabakh is blockaded by Azerbaijani military equipment. Why didn’t this mediation take place back then? These are questions that require answers,” the Armenian PM said.
Units of the Armenian Armed Forces are leaving combat positions and posts in the direction of the villages of Seysulan and Yarimja in the Tartar district, Azernews reports.
For years, the European Union was treading a thin line, keeping things even-handed when dealing with Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The two neighbors are locked into a decades-old dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, the mountainous breakaway region located in Azerbaijani territory but populated largely by ethnic Armenians.
Long-standing hostilities erupted 30 years ago when the Soviet Union, to which both countries previously belonged, was dissolved and they’ve flared up periodically ever since. In 2020, Baku emerged victorious from a six-week war and reasserted control over swaths of the region.
Ever since Baku launched what it described as “anti-terrorist” military activities to restore its sovereignty in the enclave earlier this week, a number of voices in the European Parliament have been calling for the EU to get tougher on Azerbaijan.
In a written statement, four leading EU representatives with senior positions called on member states “to fundamentally reconsider the EU’s relations with Azerbaijan in this light, and consider imposing sanctions against responsible Azerbaijani authorities.” On Thursday, more than 60 parliamentarians asked for sanctions in a separate statement.
Despite the strong feelings, these elected officials don’t have much foreign policy clout. The question is whether those calling the shots, the national EU governments, would really take the plunge, especially since the EU clinched a gas supply deal with Baku last year to help replace direct supplies from Russia.
What role does the EU play in the conflict?
Traditionally, the EU has been a relatively small player compared to Russia, which brokered a peace deal — deemed unfavorable to Armenians — in the 2020 war as well as a cease-fire this week, and Turkey, which is a close ally and economic partner of Azerbaijan, not to mention a major arms supplier.
Earlier this week, protesters in Yerevan accused Pashinyan of abandoning Karabakh ArmeniansImage: SNA/IMAGO
At present, both Russia and the EU are coordinating separate peace talks between Yerevan and Baku. With Moscow tied up with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Baku appears emboldened, analyst Marcel Röthig told DW from Tbilisi, the Georgian capital.
“Turkey sees its role as the new big player in the Caucasus, as the one who’s shaping the Caucasus,” said Röthig, an analyst from Germany’s Friedrich Ebert Foundation. “Azerbaijan feels the backing. And that’s why they became much more adventurous than they have been in the years before.”
Armenia, along with other post-Soviet states, is in a military alliance with Russia but Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has increasingly appealed to the West, including the EU.
What’s at stake for the EU?
Earlier this year, the EU set up a civilian mission in Armenia in response to a request from Yerevan, including operations at several points along the border with Azerbaijan.
Its stated goal, according to the website of the EU Mission in Armenia, is “observing and reporting on the situation on the ground; contributing to human security in conflict-affected areas and based on the above, contributing to build confidence between populations of both Armenia and Azerbaijan and, where possible, their authorities.”
The EU is engaged in negotiations with Baku and Yerevan, but that didn’t stop the latest round of hostilitiesImage: Dursun Aydemir/AA/picture alliance
However, the EU also signed a gas supply deal with Baku last year. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen even praised authoritarian Azerbaijan as a “crucial partner” in mitigating the energy crisis, despite serious concerns among Western observers about the state of democracy and human rights violation there.
With war already raging in Ukraine and a number of powerful geopolitical players — US, China, Iran and Israel — involved in the Caucasus region, the situation is delicate. “The EU’s aim is to have a stable vicinity unthreatened by wars,” Czech EU parliamentarian Marketa Gregorova, who sits in the Green group, told DW in a written statement.
“The EU’s strategic interest is for Armenia and Azerbaijan to prosper, to minimize Russian influence in Armenia and the region, help Azerbaijan achieve democracy and to resolve the ongoing decades-long conflict,” she added.
Nagorno-Karabakh lies in tatters after fresh fighting earlier this weekImage: TAR-TASS/IMAGO
Gregorova said she had long called for the EU to play a greater role in mediating long-term peace, but there are risks attached — especially due to the gas deal. “If we get deeply involved in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan will have less interest in supplying the EU with energy, at least at current price and conditions,” she said.
The solution, she said, is “to concentrate on further diversification of our resources, and a swift one.” Sanctions could be an option, but the EU should also look at attaching conditions to the gas agreement, Gregorova said.
What comes next?
With Azerbaijan now claiming control over Nagorno-Karabakh and ethnic Armenian separatist fighters laying down arms, the next concern is the humanitarian situation as well as keeping both sides talking.
In a written statement on Tuesday, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell condemned the military escalation and called for “the immediate cessation of hostilities and for Azerbaijan to stop the current military activities.”
“There is an urgent need to return to dialogue between Baku and Karabakh Armenians,” Borrell said. “This military escalation should not be used as a pretext to force the exodus of the local population.”
In Brussels, ambassadors from the EU member states discussed the situation on Wednesday, but only one country showed interest in resorting to sanctions immediately, an EU diplomatic source told DW on condition of anonymity. The focus was on stopping military actions, moving forward through diplomacy and dealing with the humanitarian situation, the source added.
All eyes will be on the Spanish city of Granada in two weeks, where close to 50 European countries are expected for talks in the European Political Community format — including Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Earlier this week, protesters in Yerevan accused Pashinyan of abandoning Karabakh ArmeniansImage: SNA/IMAGO 
The EU is engaged in negotiations with Baku and Yerevan, but that didn’t stop the latest round of hostilitiesImage: Dursun Aydemir/AA/picture alliance 
Nagorno-Karabakh lies in tatters after fresh fighting earlier this weekImage: TAR-TASS/IMAGO