Civilnet
By Alexander Pracht
Neither Azerbaijani nor Georgian lawmakers are attending the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly forum that kicked off on Tuesday in Yerevan, with Baku citing the EU’s stance on Armenia–Azerbaijan normalization as the reason for its absence.
Azerbaijan’s position was announced by Tahir Mirkishili, head of Baku’s delegation to previous Euronest sessions.
“It is because of the statements of the European Parliament, which do not contribute to the peaceful settlement process between Azerbaijan and Armenia and support those forces interested in continuing hostilities,” Mirkishili said, referring to an August 11 statement issued after the Washington-hosted peace summit.
The statement, signed by Sergey Lagodinsky, a German politician who chairs the European Parliament’s delegation to Euronest, among others, expressed support for progress on border delimitation and called for “the full withdrawal of Azerbaijani forces from the territory of [...] Armenia in the near future.” It also highlighted unresolved issues concerning Armenian detainees in Azerbaijan and the plight of displaced Karabakh Armenians.
Armenia’s other neighbor, Georgia, also opted out of the forum. Tbilisi has recently pursued a course distancing itself from closer integration with the EU, effectively stalling its membership path. The government has pushed through laws criticized by EU officials as undemocratic and has cracked down on protesters advocating the country’s European future.
Euronest is an annual inter-parliamentary forum that brings together members of the European Parliament with lawmakers from the EU’s Eastern Partnership states, including Ukraine and Moldova. Azerbaijan was previously suspended from the assembly in 2015 over reported human rights violations but has since rejoined and participated in later sessions.
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