Western Azerbaijan Community

As the Western Azerbaijan Community, we strongly condemn the unconstructive statement by the European Union (EU) Spokesman Peter Stano, justifying the arming of Armenia and the activities of the European Union Mission to Armenia (EUMA).

Expanding and extending the mandate of EUMA, a mission dealing with border issues, without coordination with another bordering country is an unfriendly step.

In addition, the mission has allowed discrimination, bias and indifference to ethnic Azerbaijanis. Thus, despite the fact that the mandate of the mission mentions the issue of studying the impact of the conflict on the situation of people living in border regions, and despite our repeated appeals on this matter, EUMA has remained indifferent to the fate of Azerbaijanis expelled from the border areas of Armenia, which it regularly patrols.

As for the issue of militarization, we emphasize that both the EU and its member states, primarily France, are carrying out large-scale armament of Armenia. The EU's military, financial, economic and development assistance through the "European Peace Facility" and other means should be seen as a reward for Armenia's aggressive actions, which have led to destruction in Azerbaijan with damage amounting to tens of billions of US dollars, as well as an incitement to new attacks on Azerbaijan. The meager amount of assistance provided by the EU to Azerbaijan in connection with the demining process cannot be presented as a step aimed at creating a balance against the background of assistance provided for the militarization of Armenia.

It is well known that as soon as Armenia feels even the slightest military advantage, it will resort to military aggression. In this regard, arming Armenia, which has strong revanchist tendencies and has a record of being an occupier, cannot be considered a sovereign choice and cannot be compared with the measures of legitimate defense of Azerbaijan.

Therefore, we demand that the EU not draw geopolitical dividing lines in the region, stop the strengthening of Armenia's militarism, and instead provide assistance to Azerbaijan to eliminate the destructive consequences of Armenian aggression.