During a telephone conversation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev on Wednesday 20 September, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said that it was essential to announce an amnesty for the Karabakh Armenians, according to a senior European official.
The President of the Council stressed the need to maintain the ceasefire and for Azerbaijan to provide credible guarantees for the rights and security of the Karabakh Armenians as a matter of urgency. “It is just as essential to meet their humanitarian needs”, said Mr Michel, adding that conditions needed to be put in place for a “safe, dignified and voluntary” exit for those wishing to leave Karabakh.
According to Mr Michel, it is important to focus on the humanitarian situation, and Azerbaijan must ensure that ethnic Armenians are respected and that there is a future for them in Azerbaijan. He warned Mr Aliyev that he had a personal role to play in making it clear that citizens and international law would be fully respected.
According to the senior official, President Aliev reaffirmed that the military operation was justified, that his country was now concentrating on reintegration, would consider an amnesty for those who had laid down their arms and that it was refusing international mediation. On Thursday 21 September, the Karabakh separatists announced that the Azerbaijani armed forces had violated the ceasefire, an accusation rejected by Baku. Initial talks between the separatists and the Azerbaijanis have been constructive, according to Baku.
Mr Aliyev reportedly explained that his country wanted to normalise relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia as a whole and that it had no territorial claim on Armenia. For his part, Mr Michel warned that any intention to use force against Armenia would be unacceptable.
The President of the European Council announced that there were discussions at European level on the various options for a response. “The means used by Baku are simply unacceptable”, said the senior official. Asked about European measures, the spokesman for the European External Action Service, Peter Stano, announced that no decision had been taken by the Member States, but that they were in the process of evaluating the situation and consulting with their partners. In his view, the response must be international. Later that afternoon, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, warned the Azerbaijani authorities that the EU stood ready to take “appropriate action” if the situation on the ground deteriorates, particularly in the event of forced displacement of the civilian population. He asked Azerbaijan to reaffirm its unequivocal support for the 1991 Almaty Declaration guaranteeing the territorial integrity of Armenia and Azerbaijan. He added that the EU civilian mission in Armenia (EUMA), which has been operational since February (see EUROPE 13125/10), would continue to monitor the security situation on the Armenian side along the international border with Azerbaijan. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)