“We are gravely concerned over the humanitarian consequences of the displacement of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh after the military operation conducted by Azerbaijan,” they said in a joint statement issued after their meeting in Tokyo.
“We urge Azerbaijan to fully comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law and welcome international efforts to address urgent humanitarian needs for those who have been displaced,” added the statement signed by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the top diplomats of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan as well as the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell.
It stopped short of explicitly urging Azerbaijan to allow the safe return of more than 100,000 Karabakh Armenians who fled to Armenia following the September 19-20 offensive condemned by the EU. Blinken also criticized it when he spoke to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on September 19.
The G7 statement came as Aliyev reviewed an Azerbaijani military parade staged in Stepanakert. In a 30-minute speech, he again defended the assault that restored Baku’s full control over the territory.
“We underline our support for advancing a sustainable and lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan based on the principles of non-use of force, respect for sovereignty, the inviolability of borders, and territorial integrity,” said the G7 ministers.
One of them, Germany’s Annalena Baerbock, urged Yerevan and Baku to resume EU-mediated talks when she visited the two South Caucasus countries late last week.
Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian were twice scheduled to hold such talks last month. But the Azerbaijani leader withdrew from one of those meetings and delayed the other.
A senior Armenian lawmaker suggested last week that Aliyev is now reluctant to finalize an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace accord backed by the EU and the United States. The deal would commit Baku to explicitly recognizing Armenia’s current borders.
Russia has been very critical of the EU and U.S. peace efforts, saying that their main goal is to drive it out of the South Caucasus. The secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, claimed on Wednesday that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict can be resolved only if the Western powers avoid any “interference” in it.