These two issued a joint statement, where they “reiterated our condemnation of the military operation by Azerbaijan against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh and reaffirmed the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of both Armenia and Azerbaijan, on the basis of the 1991 Almaty declaration and the understanding that Armenia’s territory covers 29,800 km2 and Azerbaijan’s 86,600 km2.”
Recognition of territorial integrity is a good thing. But what about this “military operation against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh”, which the head of the European Commission condemned? These were localized anti-terrorism activities against the illegal Armenian military infrastructure on the territory of Azerbaijan. Is Frau von der Leyen unaware that units of the Armenian Armed Forces with hundreds of armored vehicles, artillery, MLRS, and jamming systems continued to remain in Karabakh in contravention of international law? Was she not informed about the radio interference with civilian airplanes or the landmines on the Fizuli-Shusha road? And by what right is she trying to regulate the right of Azerbaijan to restore order on its own territory?
Moreover, the UN mission that visited the region did not record any damage to civilians and civilian infrastructure. Is this a “military operation against the population?” Does Frau von der Leyen not distinguish between illegal armed groups and civilians? Between military equipment and civilian infrastructure? And yet she heads the European Commission and allows herself to make loud statements?
Frau von der Leyen did not stop there. She said: “Armenia and the EU are bound by shared political values and their commitment to a rules-based international order. In these difficult times, the EU and Armenia stand shoulder to shoulder. We are committed to further strengthen EU-Armenia relations.” She even promised a joint EU-US event to support Armenia.
We will not speculate whether Washington will support this idea. Especially since the United States never approved Assistant Secretary of State Yuri Kim for the post, put Menendez on trial, and is cutting back on the cuddles with Armenia in general. The question is: what kind of “shared political values” is the President of the European Commission talking about? “A new war for new territories”? Strikes on residential neighborhoods of cities? Yes, Germany pursued exactly the same policy in the forties as Armenia is pursuing under Pashinyan. Is this what Frau von der Leyen calls “shared political values”?
And most importantly, does this Frau realize that after this pat on the shoulder, Pashinyan may well go for another attempt of military rematch, expecting help from Europe?
The world has already heard expressions like “in these difficult times we stand shoulder to shoulder” with regard to Georgia. Then Ukraine. Unlike Armenia, neither Georgia nor Ukraine invaded other nations’ territory—they were forced to defend their own. They were also neither members of the CSTO nor the EAEU, and they clearly declared their course to join the EU and NATO. But Georgia was simply abandoned in 2008. Ukraine in 2014 never saw the implementation of the Budapest Memorandum. It is getting help today, but without much enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, European politicians like the Defense Minister of the Netherlands reason that aid to Ukraine is the cheapest way to “contain” Russia. Europe chooses to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian, counting every euro while the Ukrainians count lost lives. Yet it easily finds money to help Armenia. Frankly speaking, it is not every day that one comes across a situation when even European politicians manage to cram so much hypocrisy and double standards into one document.
