Baku says expectations that EU mission would contribute to taking normalization agenda forward undermined

The presence of EU monitoring capacity in Armenia coincided with increased attempts by Armenia to derail the normalization process in all its three tracks, including torpedoing the trilateral meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the EU Council, with groundless conditioning, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry press service said, commenting on the decision of the Council of the European Union to establish a civilian EU mission in Armenia, according to Report.

"As such, initial expectations that EU mission would contribute to taking normalization agenda forward were undermined," the ministry said.

According to it, following the end of two-month long civilian EU mission in Armenia and given the interest of the EU to continue its presence, Azerbaijan has engaged in good faith in consultations with the EU and conveyed its assessment, expectations and concerns clearly and in a transparent manner.

"In a series of consultations held at various levels with EU representatives, it has been communicated by Azerbaijan that engagement of EU in Armenia through a mission must not serve as a pretext for Armenia to evade from fulfilment of undertaken commitments," the ministry said.

"Exploitation of such a presence of the EU against the already existing dialogue mechanisms is detrimental, and must be avoided," the ministry said.