New EU mission in Armenia “a very unpleasant event”, says Aliyev

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan is looking at the United States and Russia as possible venues for talks with Armenia, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Tuesday, January 10, Tass reports.

"France has actually isolated itself from this process. We have only America and Russia. It means that we now see possible venues for talks there," he said in an interview with local television channel.

He did not rule however that Europe could also be a venue "if it behaves honestly."

He described another EU civil mission to Armenia along its border with Azerbaijan without Baku’s consent as "a very unpleasant event." "It will not enhance security, on the contrary, will undermine the format of talks," he said. "If such games are played behind Azerbaijan’s back, it will cast doubts on the future of this format."

"Representatives of the new mission are currently in Armenia, meeting with high-ranking officials there. According to the information we have, a big delegation will be sent there again in February, and without our consent again," Aliyev said.

Foreign ministers from the 27 EU member countries met in Luxembourg in October and agreed a civil mission to address problem on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. They decided to send up to 40 EU experts on the Armenian side of the border to monitor, analyze and report the situation in the region. The mission was deployed on October 20 and finished its work on December 19. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in late December that that the European Union plans to deploy a long-term mission to Armenia to promote lasting peace in the South Caucasus.