For the first time in history, the European Union has been involved in the security issues of the Caucasus, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said in an interview with Turkish TRT World. He is referring to the European Union’s observation mission, which is in Armenia from the fall of 2022, first for two months, on which an agreement was reached after the famous quadrilateral meeting in Prague, and now essentially indefinitely, and with a larger number.
The meeting in Prague is important here, because when it is said that the EU was involved in the security issues of the Caucasus for the first time, it should be noted that this readiness appeared after Armenia expressed its readiness to consider Artsakh as part of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. In other words, before that, the European Union was not directly involved in security issues, because it did not want to take any direct responsibility in the context of the Artsakh problem, which would essentially put the European Union in front of the same situation that Russia found itself in and actually could not avoid the trap.
By avoiding a direct role in security issues, the European Union essentially avoided the trap as long as there was the Artsakh problem. Now, when that problem essentially does not exist, and there is also a certain role of the European Union in that situation, through the so-called Brussels process, the European Union is more relaxed in the policy of increasing its role in the Caucasus. Although, even today, the European Union is being avoided in a different context. Of course, the observation mission is deployed, it is monitoring, but for example, it has not given any precise and clear assessment in terms of border provocations that Azerbaijan allows.
The European Union did not give any assessment even regarding the history of the civilian factory being built in Yeraskh, when Azerbaijan forced Armenia to make a decision to move the factory with continuous provocations. And most importantly, the European Union did not respond to Armenia’s statements that they are ready to approach as much as the European Union is ready. The whole issue is that in that case, the European Union will necessarily face the reality of making a significant difference between Armenia and Azerbaijan, because it is not possible to compare the Armenian and Azerbaijani models of organizing public and state life.
It has never been comparable, and it is not like that today. And, if the model circumstance appears at the core of the relationship, then differentiation, and accordingly also the qualitatively different degree of political responsibility and relationship, becomes unavoidable. That is the reason why the European Union today puts the Armenia-Azerbaijan settlement in the core of its relations with Armenia, either directly or indirectly, rather than the model circumstance of the modernization of the public and state life of Armenia. Meanwhile, that is exactly where Armenia’s emphasis should be, in the context of observing the relationship and the problem of its development.
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