European Parliament calls for sanctions against Azerbaijan — RT World News
Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has condemned the Azerbaijani army’s “unjustified” attack on the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh province.
The European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee condemned Azerbaijan’s decision “pre-planned and unjustified” attack on the ethnically Armenian province of Nagorno-Karabakh. If Baku refuses to call off the assault, the committee recommended on Tuesday that the European Council impose sanctions on Azerbaijan.
“In the absence of an immediate halt to the ongoing attack, we call on the Council to fundamentally reconsider the EU’s relations with Azerbaijan with this in mind and to consider imposing sanctions against the Azerbaijani authorities responsible . » ” read a joint statement from committee chair David McAllister and his rapporteurs for the Caucasus region, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani army announced “anti-terrorism measures” in Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday morning, as the Armenian side reported missile and artillery strikes on the regional capital, Stepanakert, as well as tank attacks along the border with Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani side claimed that Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh opened fire on their positions early in the morning, a claim denied by Yerevan.
The US, EU and Russia – which has a peacekeeping contingent stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh – have all called on both sides to resolve their differences peacefully. Officials from the province itself called on their Azerbaijani counterparts to cease fire and “Sit down at the negotiating table to resolve this situation.”
Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from Azerbaijan at the end of the USSR. The region’s majority Armenian population waged a full-scale war for its sovereignty in the 1990s and has been supported by Yerevan ever since. A second conflict around the enclave broke out in 2020, which ended with the loss of part of the territory to Azerbaijan, and left Nagorno-Karabakh connected to Armenia via the corridor of Lachin, a mountain road that was the territory’s only supply route until it was blocked by Baku-backed environmental activists last year.
Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of using the blockade to facilitate “ethnic cleansing” of Nagorno-Karabakh. In its statement on Tuesday, the commission condemned Azerbaijan’s role in maintaining the blockade, accusing Baku of creating a “major humanitarian crisis”.
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