Mogherini: EU supports Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

The European Union supports Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence, said EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, as she met with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov during the 71st session of the UN General Assembly.

Mogherini pointed out that the EU is interested in the peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Mammadyarov, for his part, briefed Mogherini about the situation in the process of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Azerbaijan’s foreign minister noted that the continuing occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia and the destructive and provocative policy pursued by this country harms the restoration of peace and stability in the region.

Azerbaijan supports substantive negotiations, he added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed the current status of the bilateral relations, exchanged views on their prospects and expressed interest in developing those relations, according to the Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry.

The sides expressed readiness to start the talks to bring the Azerbaijani-EU partnership to a qualitatively new level and noted that there is a great potential for cooperation in energy, transportation and agrarian spheres.

The long-standing efforts to promote a peaceful solution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia remains in the forefront of the EU priorities, and EU authorities repeatedly call Azerbaijan as an important country for Europe.

The resolution adopted by the European Parliament on Azerbaijan a year ago, caused a serious regression in relations between the two parties.

The recent visit of EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee to Baku, however, gave a hope for the further development of the cooperation and become a good opportunity for the two parties to restore shaky relationship.  

The EU and Azerbaijan are maintaining relations under the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which was signed in 1996 and came into force in 1999.

Since then the PCA has provided the legal framework for EU-Azerbaijan bilateral relations in the areas of political dialogue, trade, investment, economic, legislative and cultural cooperation.

Azerbaijan is also included in the EU program on "Eastern Partnership" adopted on the initiative of Poland and Sweden and approved at the EU summit in Brussels in 2008.