“I strongly condemn the Azerbaijani military operation which led to the exodus of more than 100,000 Armenians from the Nagorno-Karabakh region,” she told a youth conference held in the French city of Bordeaux. “I reiterate my absolute support for Armenia's territorial integrity in line with the principles of the United Nations.”
“Our immediate priority is to help Armenia receive the displaced persons and support the Armenian state in this ordeal,” she said, pointing to over $11 million in humanitarian aid to Karabakh refugees and $16 million in separate financial assistance to the Armenian government provided by the EU.
“In addition, with the United States, we will organize a joint meeting to support Armenia. This is a first step to strengthen our bilateral relations. Because Europe and Armenia share a long and rich common history and the time has come to write a new chapter in this shared history,” added the head of the EU’s executive body.
In her speech repeatedly interrupted by rapturous applause, von der Leyen gave no dates or other details of the donors’ conference announced by her. She met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on the sidelines of an EU summit in Granada, Spain last Thursday.
Pashinian also held a separate meeting there with the EU’s top official, Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Sczholz. In a joint statement, the European leaders expressed their “unwavering support” for Armenia and called for the “strengthening of EU-Armenia relations in all its dimensions.”
While in Bordeaux, von der Leyen also met with a group of pro-Armenian French lawmakers. They reportedly told her that the EU must also provide military aid to Armenia and impose sanctions on Azerbaijan.
The European Parliament urged such sanctions in an October 5 resolution that accused Azerbaijan of committing “ethnic cleaning” against Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population. It criticized von der Leyen for describing Azerbaijan as a “key partner in our efforts to move away from Russian fossil fuels” during a 2022 trip to Baku.
None of the 27 member states -- include France, Armenia’s main Western backer -- has backed the idea of sanctions. French President Emmanuel Macron said October 5 that they would be counterproductive at this point.
The EU as well as the United States are moving to forge closer links with Armenia amid the South Caucasus state’s mounting tensions with Russia, its longtime ally.