YEREVAN — On Monday, 4 May, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev addressed the European Political Community summit (EPC) via video link from Baku, combining a message on regional “peace” with pointed criticism of recent European parliamentary actions that have sharply strained relations between Baku and Brussels.
His intervention came days after an April 30 European Parliament resolution that was received with strong disapproval in Azerbaijan. In its immediate aftermath, Baku summoned the EU ambassador to the Foreign Ministry and announced the suspension of parliamentary contacts with the European Parliament, including withdrawal from the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly — moves that underscored the depth of the diplomatic rift.
The resolution, particularly paragraphs 12 and 13, reiterates support for “the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, including the protection of their identity, property and cultural heritage, and their right to a safe, unimpeded and dignified return under appropriate international guarantees,” while also calling for those responsible for the destruction of Armenian cultural and religious heritage to be held accountable and for an international assessment mission to be deployed.
The resolution also condemns “Azerbaijan’s unjust detention of Armenian prisoners of war, detainees and hostages,” demanding their immediate and unconditional release. It also notes steps taken so far, calls for additional confidence-building measures and urges full respect for international humanitarian and human rights law.
“This body, instead of supporting the peace process, prefers to sabotage it,” he said, claiming that since 2021 it had adopted “14 resolutions full of insults and lies about Azerbaijan.” Aliyev further asserted that instead of focusing on internal challenges, the European Parliament had targeted Azerbaijan.
Aliyev’s speech also focused on framing the evolving relationship between Azerbaijan and Armenia as a success story of post-conflict normalization. Referring to earlier diplomatic contacts, he said both sides had even discussed future summits being hosted in Armenia and Azerbaijan, respectively. “This is a clear indication that peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia is a reality,” he said, adding: “We have lived in peace for only nine months, and we are learning to live in peace.”
Aliyev further referenced the August agreement signed in Washington, describing it as a turning point. “For us — and I am sure for our Armenian partners — peace is achieved,” he said, highlighting subsequent steps, including the lifting of transit restrictions and the reported flow of Azerbaijani goods into Armenia.
He also emphasized emerging regional connectivity initiatives, including the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,” presenting it as part of a broader infrastructure vision linking Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan and the wider Middle Corridor trade network.
However, during his address, Aliyev reiterated claims characterizing the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh as “separatists,” a framing widely rejected by Armenian political figures and civil society representatives, who view it as a retrospective justification for the forced displacement of Artsakh’s Armenian population.
While expressing appreciation for the European Commission’s stance on the peace process, Aliyev drew a sharp distinction with other European institutions. He argued that bodies such as the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have taken a markedly different approach, describing it as long-standing institutional bias.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan did not directly respond to Aliyev’s remarks. Instead, he offered only a brief acknowledgement, thanking the Azerbaijani leader for his address without engaging with the substance of his statements.
The only substantive response came from European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, who addressed Aliyev’s criticism directly after his intervention. Metsola underscored the institutional independence of the European Parliament, noting that it is a democratically elected body whose positions reflect majority decisions.
Responding to concerns raised over recent resolutions related to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, she stated that while such decisions may be unwelcome to some parties, they are the product of established parliamentary procedure..
Several Armenian opposition figures and commentators offered sharply critical assessments of the EPC summit in Yerevan, arguing that it exposed both political asymmetries and unresolved tensions beneath the official language of reconciliation.
ARF Armenia Supreme Body member and lawmaker Kristine Vardanyan characterized the summit as effectively serving domestic political objectives for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, describing it as a “preelection event” financed through state resources. She argued that key issues of national concern were notably absent from the formal agenda, including the status of Armenian prisoners and the question of displaced populations and territories.
Vardanyan also questioned the framing of the summit’s peace narrative, describing a situation in which identity is denied and cultural heritage is erased while affected populations are labeled “separatists.”
Former Artsakh State Minister Artak Beglaryan argued that Aliyev used a platform hosted in Armenia to advance narratives that delegitimize the rights of the region’s Armenian community. Beglaryan framed Pashinyan’s nonresponse as reflecting a wider diplomatic imbalance, while also pointing to restrictions on public expression near the summit venue as evidence of unresolved tensions over rights, displacement and accountability.
Outside the heavily secured perimeter of the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex, where the European Political Community summit was underway, multiple protest groups gathered from early morning, turning the surrounding area into a parallel stage of political expression far removed from the closed-door diplomacy inside.
Demonstrators called for greater accountability from both European institutions and Armenian authorities. Their messages converged around a common theme: that democratic values were being invoked selectively rather than consistently applied.
Others broadened the scope of criticism, pointing to democratic backsliding and a lack of transparency in domestic governance, as well as shortcomings in foreign policy decision-making.
Among those present were families of missing persons and representatives of Artsakh Armenian communities, who called on both European officials and Armenian authorities to secure the release of detainees, safeguard cultural heritage in Artsakh and address the rights of those displaced by the conflict.
The existence of Aliyev as well as Erdogan, is an affront and nauseating.
Another characteristic, apart from their lust for power, wealth and control, their vanity, and their need for adolation, that connects dictators like Aliyev and Erdogan, dictator wannabes like Trump, and the nouveau riche in general, is their tasteless fondness for kitsch gold-leaf decor and over-the-top Baroque furniture.
It is in Armenia’s best interest and future survival to develop nuclear weapons like Israel in a neighborhood of enemies actively working to extinguish Armenia and Armenians. This is the Iron Ladle Khrimyan Hayrig was talking about 100+ years ago. While every nation was able to dip into the big bowl of harissa (because they had a powerful military), Armenia showed up to the meeting with paper demands and got nothing (because it had and still has a weak miliary). Armenia can’t rely on other nations to defend her. As far as Artsakh is concerned, there is negative 1,000% chance that Artsakh will be revived and Armenians returning to live there. The same fairy tale is also endlessly chanted about Western Armenia and Cilicia. With what army? With what population? There is a real Armenia right now that nobody wants to live in. Let’s populate her, make her stronger and more prosperous before demanding Van, Kars, Mount Ararat, and the others.
Pashinyan looks like a carpet seller.
Aliyev looks like a wrestler.
He is devious and is always looking for his opponent’s weak points.
As long as Armenia is represented by a carpet seller, we will always lose.
@Robert Whig
I agree with you.
However, Pashinyan is not capable of even becoming a shady carpet seller. Pashinyan reminds me of a compulsive gambler who squandered, instead of his (in Pashinyan’s case, misbegotten) fortune, Armenia and Artsakh. Since he acts like one and this is an addiction, he will squander what is left of Armenia, and would on top of that even try to sell his mother if she were alive. The Turks and Azeris are of course delighted to have this useful idiot as their pliant puppet.
If neighbouring Iran with far greater resources than Armenia was stopped from developing nuclear weapons then what chance does Armenia have in such a quest?
Besides as Russia war has shown and although not declared Israel presumed nuclear weapons haven’t deterred either from attacks…
Indeed Pashinyan was criticised for the purchase of four su 30 jets without munitions attempting to develop nuclear weapons would be an even greater folly, drones are the way to go as recent conflicts have shown .
Armenia could have much bigger chance of acquiring nuclear weapons than Iran because, unlike Iran, Armenia neither has ever stated nor wants to wipe any country off the map. High-ranking Iranian leaders have frequently stated that Israel should be eliminated, destroyed, or “wiped off the map”. This rhetoric has been a consistent feature of Iranian foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with officials often describing Israel as a “cancerous tumor” that must be removed from the region. I don’t believe they would have taken such a drastic step to attack Israel with nuclear weapons even if they had acquired them because that would have sealed their destiny once and for all and put the last nail on their own coffins. I believe this kind of talk was more for internal consumption to stay true to their convictions, in words only, in order to legitimize their leadership and to remain in power. But this kind of inflammatory rhetoric backfired on them. It gave Israeli leadership the ammunition they needed to do what they had planned on doing for decades. To attack Iran and take out their nuclear facilities. For now and for the foreseeable future anyway.
Given the fact that Armenia is stuck in between two genocidal terrorist states, I think Armenia needs both military-grade UAVs (drones) and nuclear weapons. The former for modern warfare and the latter for making our enemies think twice about taking any military actions against us in the future. But we need a strong leader who won’t think twice putting these weapons into action without any hesitation. If we had such a leader in 2020 and he had struck the enemy oil & gas pipelines right at the start of enemy invasion with powerful Iskender missiles already in our possession, paralyzing the enemy economically and dragging Europeans into the conflict to secure their Caspian energy investments, we would perhaps be in much better position today!
100%!
@Charles. Ararat answered the question. Armenia has never threatened Israel with wiping it off the map. Armenia must develop both nuclear weapons and massive amounts of drones. Now that AI supercomputers are being built in Armenia, it will have even more power to increase its military a thousand fold. While the government does that on a large scale, every household must own guns and be trained on guns. Period. Every Armenian must know how to use guns and have ammunition. The entire nation should be a fortress and every citizen a soldier. Instead of having wine festivals and dancing in Yerevan, there should be national emergency drills to continuously prepare the entire population for battle. Armenia keeps touting “Never Again” but it does not do anything to prepare for “Never Again” not to happen again.
The biggest threat to Armenian statehood is Nikol Pashinyan.
The second biggest threat are people deflecting from Nikol, by blaming anyone else but Nikol, such as “Nakhkin”, Russians, aliens, etc.
The only focus of Armenians at this point is to remove the vomit named Nikol
@trutharmenian@aol.com
Actually, we don’t need nuclear weapons.
We have something much more powerful.
Istanbul is built on weak geological faultlines.
A targeted Armenian missile attack on those weak points will induce an earthquake that will destroy that entire wretched city.
That’s 12 million Turks!
I look at the geological maps of Istanbul and I smile.
The Armenian High Command have much better maps than I do so they will know exactly where to strike.
The Turks should always know that we hold the Sword of Damocles over them.
@Robert Whig
I wholeheartedly agree with you that Turkey deserves to be ruined and weakened, and that it no longer poses a threat to Armenia and to its other neighbors.
However, there is no need for Armenia to dirty its hand, because Mother Nature will take care of Turkey – for certain, with devastating consequences for that country.
That is why, there is no need to destroy Istanbul with a nuclear weapon, because the expected 7.5-8.0 magnitude earthquake is going to destroy Istanbul either in this decade or in the next decade at the latest, according to most world-renowned seismologists, including Turkish ones. Turkish companies are relocating their headquarters and factories, and the Turkish government is relocating logistics from Istanbul to the (supposedly) seismically safer capital Ankara, because of this eventuality.
The 1500 km long North Anatolian fault line runs parallel only 10-20 km south of Istanbul’s shoreline. This faultline has caused numerous destructive and deadly earthquakes in Istanbul’s 2600 year long existence. Some of these earthquakes also caused tsunamis, which exacerbated the destruction and the death toll, and also increased the death toll if they happened in the cold winter months and at night.
The last strong earthquake to directly hit and devastate Istanbul, occurred in 1766. The last strong earthquake to indirectly hit Istanbul, as the epicenter was more than 50 km away, but caused widespread damage and a significant death toll of more than 1300, occurred in 1894, when the city had only one million inhabitants. Now Istanbul has 16 million inhabitants, is very densely populated, and most of the buildings are not built to withstand strong 7+ magnitude or even 6+ magnitude earthquakes.
Istanbul (along with Tehran and a few other Third World cities) is a candidate for the first million death quake in world history. That city is a ticking time bomb counting down for The Big One. Istanbul is 100% doomed.
The 35,000 Armenians still remaining in Istanbul and the 100 Armenians still remaining in Turkey’s last Armenian village of Vakifli, which was badly damaged in the 2023 double earthquake, need to leave that worthless, hostile, and dangerous powder keg of a country ASAP to save their lives and futures, because living in Turkey is like having the Sword of Damocles hanging over your head. They will in all certainty either become the victims of the next deadly earthquake or the next pogrom. It is not a question of if, but when. The realists left and survived, whereas the optimists who stayed, were killed.
You guys are talking about a natural disaster that may happen in 25, 50, 100 years. Armenia needs defense now.
There’s sure hope against hope crazies here, plotting or hoping for an earthquake in Istanbul which might not actually live up to the projections. Seeking nuclear weapons despite the difficulties in such an endeavour and the fact that they seem to be white elephants. Indeed no wonder Armenia is in a poor situation with such deluded posters here.
Even a 6.5-7.0 magnitude earthquake hitting Istanbul (which accounts for 40% of Turkey’s GDP and 20% of Turkey’s population) will severely damage Turkey’s economy for many years, a 7.0-7.5 magnitude earthquake hitting Istanbul will ruin Turkey’s economy for decades, and a 7.5-8.0 magnitude earthquake hitting Istanbul, will bring Turkey down to its knees. A battered, weakened, dependant demoralized and inward-looking Turkey, which cannot threaten, bully and harm its neighbors, which it has done for decades, will be good news to its neighbors, who have had enough of Turkey, and also beyond in the Arab and Western World. Turkey will get its punishment from Mother Nature.
This pseudo-Turkish “Red” Kurdish mutt Aliyev is very badly and truly suffering from an inferiority complex. This little cockroach talks as if he is a modern Napoleon. Nothing can be farther from the truth than that. The reality is that this idiot is nothing but what I call a chicken-hawk. When duty called three decades ago this homeless drunk turned into a chicken skipped town and became MIA spending his time in Russian and Turkish casinos waiting out the Armenian Liberation War for Artsakh while our former leaders proudly wearing their Armenian military uniforms fought at the front lines as soldiers and commanders sending tens of thousands of his countrymen back to Baku in body bags. We nearly wiped out his KGB father’s entire army handing them a devastating and humiliating defeat they will never forget and could not recover from in thirty years.
With pockets full of petrodollars and while hiding in terrorist Turkey’s Islamo-fascist Er-dog-an’s rear end he has now turned into a hawk. But rest-assured, at the end of the day, he is the same coward today as he was thirty years ago. He is full of hot air and he gets away with his belligerent rhetoric because we have a sorry excuse for a leader in office who acts like a sheep and the spineless European leaders are much more concerned about and interested in exploiting and securing the flow of that Caspian “black gold” into Europe than growing a pair and putting him in his place. When you really get down to it, this empty suit and loud barking wild dog Aliyev has a glass jaw and we today with the right no nonsense patriotic leader can shatter that glass jaw of his and bring him back to reality. He knows what we Armenians are capable of doing to them and that terrifies him and it is because of this very fact that he overreacts to everything with his repetitive stale and empty talk. He was personally a witness and had the front seat to how we brought his KGB father to his knees. I’m convinced and quite sure his turn will come too. It is just a matter of time and the right Armenian leadership!
Of course, for Armenia to recover, the country needs a thorough cleansing of the filth which pollutes it. Getting rid of Pashinyan and his ilk will be the political equivalent of disinfecting Armenia.
@Ararat. Never gonna happen. Unless you want Armenia to be in a constant state of war with AzerGAYjan, its economy ruined, population declined, and Turks/Pakis/Jews helping it to kill Armenians, then the current way is the way. I felt furious during the second Artsakh War and its aftermath, but did you honestly believe Armenia was going to send its military to save Artsakh? It would get annihilated. The Diaspora, of which I am, want to keep banging the war drums and wanting Armenian sons to die while they live thousands of miles away in other nations. If they had the balls, they’d send their own sons to serve, fight, and possibly die alongside Armenia’s young men and women in the military, but they don’t and never will. Until the Diaspora’s own children serve in Armenia’s military, it needs to shut up about taking back Artsakh, Western Armenia, and whatever fairy tales it wants to tell. Again, I live in the Diaspora too, and I want Armenia to be strong, rich, and populated with greater numbers of Armenians.
@ Truth Armenian, well observed about the hopes of an earthquake in Istanbul such an event may take decades to occur and may well not match anticipations besides Armenia has suffered from earthquakes they have a rhythm of their own.
Nuclear weapons, Armenia despite Israel being no friend hasn’t made any rhetorical apocalyptic rhetoric towards them . Nevertheless Iran resources dwarfed Armenia and was forestalled by the USA and Israel as hegemons use force to uphold their ascendant position. In such a prospect Armenia would face sanctions in a way it never did for occupation of parts of Azerbaijan .
Turkey and Azerbaijan would likely target Armenia such an endeavour. As recent events have shown Ukraine isn’t deterred by Russia’s nuclear weapons and Iran isn’t deterred by Israel alleged nuclear weapons thus how Armenia in a theoretical situation of having nuclear weapons would then be able to cow Turkey and Azerbaijan in a way Russia hasn’t been able to cow Ukraine, and USA and Israel haven’t been able to cow Iran is incredible to comprehend!
Drones, missiles, AI are the way modern warfare is done, after all remember how Pashinyan was slammed for buying 4 SU 30 jets without any munitions, as a case of pretension and show although Russia deliberately wouldn’t supply the suitable compartment of munitions with them rendering them a farce.
It is important to keep the Artsakh issue alive. From an international legal perspective the Armenians of Artsakh do have a right to return to their homes under international security guarantees. The Armenian cultural desecration in Artsakh is illegal under international law. Keeping the issue alive does not mean waging a war.
When you don’t keep the issue alive people forget, which is what the enemy wants. Look at Nakhichevan. Most non Armenians don’t know that Nakhichevan was historically Armenian land. The reason the enemy destroys our churches and Khatchkars (Julfa) is so there will be no trace of our existence in our ancestral lands.
Who knows what the future will bring. When the Caspian oil wells run dry and alternative energy sources are less expensive Azerbaijan may be plunged into a major economic depression and civil war. By keeping the issue alive future circumstances may permit a return of Artszkh to the rightful owners of the land.
Tragically, Artsakh has suffered the same horrible fate as Nakhichevan and Western Armenia; a situation that could have been entirely avoided if the archtraitor Pashinyan had not betrayed and sacrificed Artsakh. What is crucial is that Armenia is not next in line, and that its independence and territorial integrity are defended at all costs. This can only happen when Pashinyan and his equally treacherous allies are overthrown; for under his disastrous misrule, Artsakh was not only lost, but 200 square kilometers of Armenian territory are under Azerbaijani occupation since 2021.
Armenia’s huge problem is that there are 90 million Turks, (80 million in Turkey, 10 million in Azerbaijan) compared to just 3 million Armenians.
Fortunately, modern military technology eradicates the population advantage that the Turks have.
Armies of military robots and fleets of military drones means we can face the Turks on an equal level.
Time for all those American Armenian billionaires and millionaires to come home and start investing.
Armenia cant do anything; acquire nuclear weapons, buy drones, or even re establish a capable Army (it had it once). It cant do these things until Pashoglu the turkish mole is removed from Armenia. This is in the hands of the hayastanci population now. They can either throw pashoglu out and save Armenia from being Turkified or let him stay in power and watch Armenia get swallowed up. The choice is theirs. We in the diaspora can do little except watch.
Why was he allowed to address this forum in the firs place.? I don’t understand.