“[EU Council] President Charles Michel calls for the dialogue meeting between Baku and Stepanakert to take place as soon as possible,” the official told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Sources in Stepanakert said last month that Azerbaijani officials and Karabakh representatives were due to meet in Bulgaria’s capital Sophia Sofia in the beginning of July. The meeting did not take place because the sides did not agree on its agenda, according to them.
Another Karabakh official claimed afterwards that the Western-mediated talks were rescheduled for August 1 but then cancelled by the Azerbaijani side. Baku wants such negotiations to be held in an Azerbaijani city, he said, adding that this is unacceptable to Stepanakert.
The EU official, who did not want to be identified, said it remains unclear when and where the two sides could launch the dialogue strongly backed by Armenia.
The deadlock is further complicating the lifting of the Azerbaijani blockade that has resulted in a grave humanitarian crisis in Karabakh. The EU has repeatedly urged Baku to unblock the sole road connecting Karabakh to Armenia.
“President Michel has stressed to the Azerbaijani side the urgent necessity to unblock the Lachin road in compliance with the relevant [International Court of Justice] decision and in order to prevent a further escalation,” the official said in thins regard. “He also noted Azerbaijan’s willingness to provide humanitarian assistance via other roads, including Aghdam.”
Michel’s team as well as the EU’s special envoy to the South Caucasus, Toivo Klaar, have been discussing with Baku, Yerevan and Karabakh Armenian leaders “options for unblocking the situation,” added the official. He stressed that the EU remains an “honest broker” in ongoing Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations.
Karabakh’s leadership has rejected the alternative, Azerbaijani-controlled supply route proposed by Baku as a cynical ploy designed to facilitate the restoration of Azerbaijani control over the Armenian-populated region. The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, stressed late last month that the Aghdam route “should not be seen as an alternative to the reopening of the Lachin corridor.”