Araz Azimov: "Azerbaijan does not consider the EU as a feasible peace broker in the region"

"Azerbaijan does not consider the European Union as a feasible peace broker in the region" said Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov in his speech at a conference organized in Brussels by the European Policy Center on Wednesday, APA reports.

"The European Union is a powerful economic and political union of states, but in terms of acting in a united way, the EU is not there yet, especially in an environment that changes rapidly. The EU it is not able to act in an instrumental way. In the Minsk group there is a majority of EU countries and we do take their position into account. We need the EU’s influence as an international actor, but we don’t think the EU is a feasible partner in the Minsk group". The EU’s special representative to Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, Peter Semneby, confirmed that the bloc "remains supportive of the work of the Minsk group" but didn’t see as probable any change in terms of the EU joining the body as a full participant in its own right. Semneby noted that considering the recent war in Georgia the EU proved "very much able" to show "political will" in brokering a ceasefire agreement and in quickly deploying an observer mission on the ground.

"The status of the EU observers remains unclear if Russians are to pull back by 10 October from the security zones and not granting them access into the two separatist enclaves”, Araz Azimov countered. "I think Russians will withdraw from the buffer zones, because they have no interest to stay. The six points [of the 8 September ceasefire agreement] will be implemented more or less, but then what will happen with South Ossetia and Abkhazia?" he asked.

"The main lesson of the events in Georgia is that the stability of the region is put under a big question mark, while separatist movements are being further promoted," the Azerbaijani diplomat said and added that it would be important what happens in Geneva on 15 October, when diplomatic talks are scheduled on the status of the two Georgian breakaway regions. Azerbaijan is not aiming, like Ukraine or Georgia, to become a member of the EU, said Azimov. He stressed that the government of Azerbaijan still supports the Nabucco project, "but it shouldn’t be the only one caring about Nabucco," calling on the EU to step up efforts to build the pipe.

/APA/