After years of diplomatic neglect by the European Union, we welcome your growing
role in seeking to bring peace and stability to the Southern Caucasus. At the same time
we, the under-signed Members of the European Parliament, are increasingly concerned
about Azerbaijan’s continued attempts to thwart these objectives and thus work against
the Union’s interests.
Since December 2022, Azerbaijan continues to block access to Nagorno Karabakh
trough the Lachin Corridor. Despite your personal overtures and continued calls of the
international community, the population of Nagorno Karabakh is on the verge of
starvation and used as a hostage by the Aliyev regime. It continues to block the entry
of food, medicine and other essential goods, while water and fuel are increasingly
scarce, resulting in power blackouts, long queues for already scarce food, and hospitals
struggling to treat patients. Now the regime has launched a new despicable wave of
military aggression against Nagorno Karabkh, leading to further loss of innocent lives
and destruction.
Furthermore, the relaunch of Russian gas supplies to Azerbaijan raises serious
questions about the viability of the Memorandum of Understanding on a Strategic
Partnership in the Field of Energy signed between the EU and Azerbaijan.
Irrespective of whether Azerbaijan re-exports Russian gas to Europe via the Southern Corridor or
uses it to supply its domestic market in order to free up gas and enable it to meet its
MoU commitments, these steps contravene the political intention of the MoU, which
was agreed specifically to boost the volumes of Azerbaijan gas flowing to Europe so as
to help the EU reduce its dependence on Russian gas. Thus, while Azerbaijan provides
humanitarian aid to Ukraine, it also cynically capitalises on Russian aggression.
We also cannot remain silent about the Aliyev regime’s continued suppression of
fundamental human rights of the Azerbaijani people, including arrests and detentions
of opposition and human rights activists. Most recently, the economist and government
critic Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu has been arrested on trumped up charges, subjected to
excessive use of forced and denied medical care.
The regime not only continues to violate international law and fundamental human
rights, engages in military aggression instead of contributing to conflict resolution, but also contravenes existing agreements with the Union.
We, therefore, urgently call on you to:
i) Conduct immediate testing of gas reaching the European Union through the
Southern Gas Corridor to determine whether Azerbaijan is re-exporting
Russian gas to the EU
ii) Impose sanctions as a consequence of Azerbaijan’s military aggression
iii) Temporarily suspend bilateral relations until Azerbaijan recommits, in both
words and in deeds, to the pursuit of peace, respect for fundamental human
rights, and the upholding of international law and agreements
We further call on you to provide all necessary support to the government of Armenia
in pursuing lasting regional peace and security.
Signed:
Miriam Lexmann MEP (EPP, Slovakia), Nathalie Loiseau MEP (Renew, France),
Viola von Cramon-Taubadel MEP (Greens/EFA, Germany), Reinhard Bütikofer MEP (Greens/EFA,
Germany), David Lega MEP (EPP, Sweden), Bernard Guetta MEP (Renew, France), Rasa Juknevičienė MEP (EPP, Lithuania), François-Xavier Bellamy MEP (EPP, France), Charlie Weimers MEP (ECR, Sweden), Andrius Kubilius MEP (EPP, Lithuania), Riho Terras MEP (EPP, Estonia), Anja Haga MEP (EPP, Netherlands), Petras Auštrevičius MEP (Renew, Lithuania), Markéta Gregorová MEP (Greens/EFA, Czechia), Fabio Massimo Castaldo MEP (NI, Italy), Tomáš Zdechovský MEP (EPP, Czechia), Thijs Reuten MEP (S&D, Netherlands)
Source ilustrated photo: FRANCOIS LENOIR/consilium.europa.eu
