EAFJD’s statement on the upcoming meetings between Charles Michel and leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan
Brussels, 14 December 2021 – In the run up to the Eastern Partnership Summit and the planned meetings of the President of the European Council Charles Michel with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on 14. December 2021.
EAFJD and its committees, as representatives of the European civil society, call on the President of the European Council to:
reiterate EU’s support for the mediation efforts of the OSCE Minsk group Co-chairs and the Basic principles, including the right of the native Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh/ Artsakh to self-determination;
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take a clear stance that the ongoing Azerbaijani provocations towards the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia are unacceptable;
urge the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately and completely withdraw their armed forces from the territory of the Republic of Armenia;
call on the Azerbaijani authorities to commit to the establishment of a demilitarized security zone around the Armenian settlements, including in Nagorno-Karabakh;
point out that any process of delimitation and demarcation between Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot be imposed by the use of force, violation of human rights, at the expense of the national security of Armenia and predetermine the status of Nagorno-Karabakh fulfilling the Azerbaijani claims;
put pressure on the Azerbaijani authorities to release the Armenian POW’s and captives immediately and unconditionally;
emphasize that the ethnic cleansing of the native Armenian population from the settlements of Nagorno-Karabakh, controlled by the Azerbaijani armed forces as a result of the war in 2020, cannot be tolerated;
make it clear that, a war unleashed by the authoritarian regime of Azerbaijan with the support of Turkey, i.a. by deploying terrorist fighters, cannot lead to imposing any transport connection with a special status through the territory of the Republic of Armenia, at the expense of its security and economic interests;
pressure the Azerbaijani authorities to stop the policy of appropriation and/or destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh;
urge the Azerbaijani authorities to stop the policy of Armenophobia and war-rhetoric.
EAFJD