NPR News: 04-04-2024 6PM EDT
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Day: April 4, 2024
YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—The European Union is considering providing “non-lethal” military aid to Armenia, the head of the EU Delegation in Yerevan, Vassilis Maragos, said on Thursday, repeating a statement made by him four months ago.
“We are talking about significant assistance that would strengthen [the country’s] capailities,” Maragos told a parliamentary hearing in Yerevan on Armenia’s “European integration.”
He said it would be provided from the European Peace Facility, a special fund designed to boost EU partners’ defense capacity. Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian revealed last July that Yerevan requested “technical assistance” from the fund but was rebuffed by Brussels.
A team of officials from the EU’s executive body, the European Commission, and External Action Service discussed the matter with Armenian leaders during a November visit to Yerevan. In a statement on their trip, the EU said it “will further explore non-lethal support to the Armenian military via the European Peace Facility.”
Maragos said in early December that the EU will send in the coming weeks a “technical mission” to Armenia that will come up with “concrete proposals” regarding such aid after assessing the country’s security needs. Neither the EU nor the Armenian government has reported such a visit so far.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken are scheduled to hold a trilateral meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels on Friday. Responding to concerns expressed by Azerbaijan, U.S. and EU officials have said that the meeting will focus on Western support for political and economic reforms in Armenia.
In a phone call with Blinken on Thursday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev warned the Western powers against “arming Armenia,” including through the European Peace Facility.
In recent weeks, Baku has also stepped up its criticism of an EU monitoring mission launched along Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan over a year ago and expanded last November.
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Ankara Says EU-U.S. Are Violating Neutrality by Meeting with Pashinyan
Former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged the European Union to take on a more active mediating role in the Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations, saying the situation in the South Caucasus is poses a “major geopolitical” shift for Europe.
“Despite a historic, economic, energy, and military dependence on Russia – and the physical presence of thousands of Russian troops on its soil – the Armenian government has made a bold and concerted effort to consolidate Armenia’s democracy and build closer relations with the democratic West,” Rasmussen said in an op-ed published in the French Le Monde newspaper.
“This reorientation takes time, but it also requires the European Union to adopt a more ambitious strategy towards Armenia’s democracy. This must start by ending the misguided idea that the European Union should be a neutral actor between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Europe should play a role in mediating negotiations towards a lasting peace agreement,” Rasmussen added.
“But its approach must reflect the reality that Armenia has chosen the community of European democracies, while Azerbaijan sits in the camp of aggressive autocracies. A lack of European clarity and ambition could endanger Armenia’s young democracy and jeopardize its geopolitical pivot,” the former NATO leader said.
The op-ed comes days before Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Friday. Rasmussen said that the EU’s so-called “reorientation” can begin at the summit.
“Armenia has already frozen relations with the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, organized military exercises with the United States, and sought to expand its economic ties with democratic economies. However, following the 2023 attack by Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh along with the continued occupation of strategic heights within Armenia by Azeri forces, the security situation in Armenia is fragile,” Rasmussen added.
NATO member Turkey said that the upcoming three-way talks threaten the EU’s neutrality.
Turkey’s foreign ministry issued a statement Thursday criticizing the EU-U.S.-Yerevan summit saying the meeting “contradicts the principle of neutrality.”
“There is stable peace in the [Caucasus] region… a this historic opportunity is close to fruition,” the Turkish foreign ministry said.
“It is important that third countries, especially those that are not in the region, to approach the situation in a fair and impartial manner, and carefully refrain from efforts that can create obstacles,” the statement added.
Official Ankara also complained that the Brussels meeting “is ignoring Azerbaijan’s position and will only become the basis for new geopolitical disagreements.”
“We call on third countries to take into consideration the unique situation in the region, and approach the parties to the conflict with parity,” the Turkish foreign ministry said.
The State Department last week clarified that Friday’s meeting in Brussels will address issue of support to Armenia and is not meant to address the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.
Both Blinken and von der Leyen have called Aliyev to emphasize that the meeting is not directed at Azerbaijan, both highlighting the need to advance relations between Baku, Washington and Brussels.