Aliyev blasts European Parliament, says Azerbaijan’s parliament will sever ties after April 30 resolution

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev used a video address to the European Political Community summit in Yerevan on Monday to denounce the European Parliament and announce that Azerbaijan’s parliament will sever all ties with the EU legislature following its latest resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh’s displaced Armenians.

“Since the second Karabakh war, from 2021 to 2026, the European Parliament has adopted 14 resolutions that lie about Azerbaijan in a very offensive way,” Aliyev said, adding that the most recent was adopted “just four days before this summit.” He argued that Azerbaijan “put an end to separatism” in Karabakh in line with international law and called the April 30 text “provocative.” The resolution urged the immediate release of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan and reaffirmed support for the right of Karabakh Armenians to return to their homeland—recaptured by Baku in 2023—safely and “under international guarantees.” In a clear reference to the destruction of Armenian churches in the region, it also said those responsible for the destruction of Armenian cultural and religious heritage must be held accountable.

Roberta Metsola, the European Parliament’s speaker, responded at the Yerevan gathering. While the Parliament’s resolutions “may cause inconvenience to many,” she said, the institution “will never change our working methods and the positions we adopt.” Her remarks came as several dozen Karabakh Armenian refugees demonstrated outside the summit venue.

In contrast to the European Parliament, Armenia’s government has essentially stopped criticizing Baku since Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian initialed a bilateral peace treaty in Washington last August. Pashinian has declined to denounce the recent demolition of Karabakh’s largest Armenian church and has repeatedly said that refugees should forget about returning to Karabakh.

“We are now working closely with Azerbaijan to consolidate and institutionalize peace between our two countries,” Pashinian told the summit. He said he hopes to attend a European Political Community summit in Azerbaijan that is due to take place in 2028.

Monday’s exchanges underscored sharply different approaches to the aftermath of the 2023 recapture of Karabakh: Aliyev signaled a freeze in parliamentary contacts with the EU, Metsola stood by the Parliament’s positions, and Pashinian emphasized closer cooperation with Azerbaijan ahead of a planned EPC meeting in 2028.