Azerbaijan Voices Concerns About New EU-Armenia Partnership

On December 9, Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) released a statement voicing serious concern about the new Strategic Partnership Agenda that Armenia and the European Union (EU) adopted on December 2 in Brussels.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas signed the document. It aims to increase cooperation between the two, including in security, defense, strengthening institutions, and economic growth. Mirzoyan called the partnership ambitious. The EU also announced it would give €12 million to Armenia to help prevent things like cyberattacks and fake news, especially before the 2026 parliamentary elections.

Azerbaijan's Main Disagreements

The Azerbaijani MFA thinks the document emphasizes certain issues in a way that misrepresents what's happening after the conflict. They say it goes against the peace talks between Baku and Yerevan and could hurt Azerbaijan-EU relations.

Azerbaijan strongly disagrees with calling Armenian residents who moved to Armenia displaced Karabakh Armenians following Azerbaijan's military operations and labeling them as refugees. The MFA says these residents left willingly because they didn't accept Azerbaijan’s plan to bring them back into the country.

The MFA believes that the document's support for the full, immediate and decision of the International Court of Justice is like agreeing with Armenia's claims against Azerbaijan. They think this goes against the peace agreement that Azerbaijani and Armenian officials agreed on in Washington on August 8, which says that both sides would drop such court claims.

Azerbaijan is worried that the document focuses on keeping the EU Monitoring Mission in Armenia (EUMA) fully active on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border. Azerbaijan points out that the peace agreement draft (Article 7) says that neither country should let other countries put forces on their border.

The MFA criticized the document for calling Armenians detained in Azerbaijan captives, saying that wanting their release is a serious distortion of realities.

Azerbaijan is concerned that the document doesn't mention the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) project at all. This route, mentioned in the August 8 Washington Declaration, is supposed to allow easy passage between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan through Southern Armenia while respecting Armenia's control of the area.

The conflict started in the 1980s and led to Azerbaijan losing control of some of its land in the 1990s. Azerbaijan regained control over its territories after military actions in 2020 and 2023, after which the local Armenian population moved to Armenia. The MFA urged the EU and Armenia to take action to remove the harmful parts of the document, and they said they would keep a close eye on the situation.