On Tuesday 26 September, Azerbaijani and Armenian representatives expressed their countries’ shared interest in a possible meeting in Granada on 5 October.
Meeting in Brussels under the auspices of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel - who briefly took part in the exchange - his diplomatic advisers, Simon Mordue and Magdalena Grono, the Secretary of the Armenian Security Council, Armen Grigoryan, the Foreign Policy Adviser to the President of Azerbaijan, Hikmet Hajiyev, the diplomatic advisers to the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Bonne and Jens Ploetner, and the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Toivo Klaar, discussed the pertinence of a possible leaders’ meeting, scheduled for 5 October 2023 in Granada, as part of the third summit of the European Political Community.
“The participants took note of the common interest of Armenia and Azerbaijan in taking advantage of the possible meeting in Grenada to continue their efforts towards normalisation”, said Mr Michel’s spokeswoman, Ecaterina Casinge, in a statement.
She added that the Azerbaijani and Armenian representatives had begun discussions on possible concrete measures to advance the peace process between Yerevan and Baku at the next possible meeting, “particularly with regard to border demarcation, security, connectivity, humanitarian issues and the peace treaty in general”. “Concrete action and decisive compromise solutions are needed on all aspects of the normalisation process”, said the spokeswoman.
According to the EU, the possible Granada meeting should be an opportunity for Yerevan and Baku to publicly reaffirm their commitment to each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, in line with the agreements previously reached in Prague and Brussels.
At the meeting, the EU invited participants to exchange views on the current situation on the ground and on the various efforts being made to meet the urgent needs of the local population. “The EU is closely following all these developments and is committed at the highest level to helping mitigate the impact of the hostilities on civilians”, stressed Mr Michel’s spokeswoman, recalling the need for transparency and access for international humanitarian aid and human rights actors.
“The EU has stressed and asked for more details on Baku’s vision for the future of the Karabakh Armenians in Azerbaijan”, added Mrs Casinge. For his part, Mr Hajiyev outlined Azerbaijan’s plans to provide humanitarian assistance and ensure the safety of the local population.
EU mobilises €5 million in humanitarian aid. In addition to the initial emergency aid of €500,000 mobilised last week (see EUROPE 13256/17), the European Commission announced on Tuesday additional humanitarian funding of €4.5 million to cover the most pressing needs, both of people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and of vulnerable people in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is experiencing severe food shortages and a lack of access to electricity and water.
“There is an urgent need for unimpeded international humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh”, stressed the High Representative of the Union on X (formerly Twitter).
In Armenia, where more than 13,500 refugees have already arrived, aid will be delivered by partner humanitarian organisations on the ground. It is expected to benefit around 25,000 people, who will primarily be provided with cash, shelter, food aid and other means of subsistence.
In the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, the humanitarian funding should enable the International Committee of the Red Cross to reach some 60,000 people, who will be provided with food, healthcare, shelter and logistics.
A humanitarian expert will be deployed to the region to work with partner humanitarian organisations. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Aminata Niang)