Ankara condemns EP motion on Karabakh situation

ANKARA

Türkiye's Foreign Ministry has condemned the recent motion made by the European Parliament concerning the ongoing situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In a statement released on Oct. 5, the ministry criticized the decision as "biased and prejudiced," accusing certain members of the European Parliament of "pursuing populist agendas and discriminatory motives against Türkiye."

The statement expressed firm disapproval of the European Parliament's motion, denouncing it as "a manifestation of irresponsibility, prejudice, bias and ignorance."

"We condemn this resolution targeting our country based on the discourse of a group of populist and discriminatory EP members who are seeking for unfounded accusations and allegations against Türkiye for years," the statement read.

"We see it as a systemic weakness that those irresponsible texts that are taken seriously by nobody other than a few marginal sectors are recklessly laid before us as EP resolutions and therefore we do not take them seriously."

Meanwhile, the European Union will host talks between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan this month to try to reduce tensions between the arch-foes following Baku's lightning offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, EU chief Charles Michel told AFP.

"The goal is to have this meeting by the end of October, and we will fix the date together, with [Armenian] Prime Minister [Nikol] Pashinyan and [Azerbaijani] President [Ilham] Aliyev," Michel said on the sidelines of a summit of the 47-nation European Political Community in Spain.

Two weeks ago, Azerbaijan took control of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region for the first time in three decades after a one-day offensive.

The operation sparked a mass exodus of ethnic Armenians, with the vast majority of the estimated 120,000 who had been living in the territory fleeing to Armenia.

European leaders, who have taken a growing role in the Caucasus had hoped to host, in Spain, Aliyev's first meeting with Pashinyan since the Karabakh offensive.

But the Azerbaijan leader turned down the talks, Baku citing France's "militarization policy" in the Caucasus, the European Union's attitude towards the region, and the absence of Türkiye.

However, presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev said on Oct. 5 that "Azerbaijan stands ready for tripartite meetings in Brussels soon in the format of the European Union, Azerbaijan and Armenia."

Separately, France has pledged military support to Yerevan in the wake of Azerbaijan's offensive, but has not elaborated on what this entails.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that European leaders should continue to discuss the crisis with Azerbaijan in order to "best protect" Armenia, rather than resorting to sanctions against Baku.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh since the late 1980s.

The mountainous region, once designated an autonomous region within Azerbaijan during Soviet times, saw the Armenians gain control and capture neighboring territories in the First Karabakh War, which lasted from 1988 to 1994, resulting in thousands of casualties and widespread displacement.

In 2020, Azerbaijan regained control of significant portions of territory in and around Nagorno-Karabakh following a war.