Azerbaijan's President Blasts EU Observers as Biased Toward Armenia

(MENAFN) Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev launched a sharp rebuke Sunday against European Union monitors deployed along the Armenian border, accusing them of performing a theatric protective role that he said is neither warranted nor grounded in reality.

Speaking at a community meeting with families in Zangilan, located in the Karabakh region liberated from nearly three decades of Armenian occupation between 2020 and 2023, Aliyev dismissed the premise of the EU mission outright.

"I said back then that if we fired a single shot … not a trace of them would remain. But they act as if they are defending Armenia from us," he said, according to the presidential press service.

Aliyev insisted there is "no need" to shield Armenia from Azerbaijan, arguing that Baku had already accomplished its stated objectives in prior border conflicts and harbors no ambitions against its neighbor's sovereignty.

He underlined that Baku "has no intention of destroying Armenia or depriving it of its independence."

The Azerbaijani leader was particularly scathing toward what he characterized as performative posturing by EU-aligned voices inside Armenia.

"Presenting themselves as false heroes at this event in Armenia -- saying that they 'stopped Azerbaijan, otherwise this aggressive Azerbaijan would have destroyed Armenia' -- is all nonsense. We have never had, do not have, and will not have such intentions unless further provocations are committed," he said.

Aliyev also sounded a cautionary note, warning that anti-Azerbaijani factions operating within Armenia's political landscape risk reigniting instability across the wider region if provocations are resumed.

The friction between Baku and the EU mission reflects the broader, unresolved tensions that have defined the South Caucasus for decades. Armenia and Azerbaijan have waged a series of bloody cross-border wars dating back to the late 1980s, culminating most recently in Azerbaijan's 2023 recapture of the Karabakh territory.

The EU observer mission was formally established by the Council of the EU in January 2023, mandated to stabilize border areas and "ensure an environment conducive to normalization efforts between Armenia and Azerbaijan supported by the EU."

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