European parliament calls for sanctions on Azeri officials for Nagorno-Karabakh seizure

European Union MPs have called for sanctions against Azerbaijani officials as the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, pulled out of an EU summit in Spain where European officials would have questioned Baku’s deadly seizure of the Armenian-populated breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Members of the European Parliament (‘MPs’) said the ‘current situation with Armenians fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh amounts to ethnic cleansing, and MPs overwhelmingly voted in favour of a resolution demanding ‘targeted sanctions against Azerbaijani government officials responsible for ceasefire violations and human rights abuses in Nagorno-Karabakh.’

In a statement, 5 October, the Parliament demanded that the EU ‘undertake a comprehensive review of its relations with Baku. To develop a strategic partnership with a country like Azerbaijan, which blatantly violates international law and international commitments, and has an alarming human rights record, is incompatible with the objectives of EU foreign policy,’ it said.

The MPs urged the EU ‘to suspend any negotiations on a renewed partnership with Baku, and should the situation not improve, consider suspending the application of the EU visa facilitation agreement with Azerbaijan.’

Meanwhile, Aliyev refused to attend the 5 October meeting on Karabakh in Granada, Spain, where Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and leaders from the EU, France and Germany were expected. Azerbaijan had insisted that Turkey should also attend, a suggestion that was strongly opposed by Germany and France, according to Azerbaijani and Turkish media reports.