Judge for yourselves: “I spoke with President Aliyev two days ago and I clearly told him that he cannot have territorial claims against Armenia. This must be said out loud and it must be guaranteed that there is mutual recognition of territorial integrity,” the head of the European Council and former Belgian Prime Minister puffed up his cheeks. “I do not intend to comment on Aliyev’s decision not to come to Granada here in public, I will tell him personally what I think about it.”
For a start, we are compelled to advise Mr. Michel and his team to follow the news before going out to the microphones and making any statements. Because in an interview with Euronews (!) on August 2 this year, President Ilham Aliyev said: “We don’t have territorial claims to Armenia, though hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis lived in Armenia before the war were totally ethnically cleansed, and their cultural and religious heritage was totally destroyed. Nevertheless, we don’t have any territorial claims.”
And even before that, at the meeting of the Eurasian Council in Moscow on May 25, the President of Azerbaijan also stressed that Azerbaijan has no territorial claims against Armenia. How much “out louder” does Michelle want it to be? Is the EU leadership simply not aware of it? Has Michel not been informed? Or did he want to score some quick points and convince the audience that it is Europe “saving Armenia”? But if so, the President of the European Council had better remember: Azerbaijan is not the kind of country that can be maligned with impunity. And Ilham Aliyev is not the kind of leader Michel can tell what to do.
And there is such a thing as accountability for one’s words in politics.
