Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Saturday scolded France for sending military aid to Baku's archrival Armenia and warned the move could trigger a new conflict in the South Caucasus.
During a phone call with European Council President Charles Michel, Aliyev said that "including Azerbaijan in the quadrilateral statement without the participation of Azerbaijan in Granada was not the right approach," Aliyev’s office said in a statement.
France has agreed on future contracts with Armenia to supply military equipment to help ensure its defenses, Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on Oct. 3 during a visit to Yerevan.
She declined to elaborate on what sort of military aid was envisaged for Armenia under future supply contracts. French President Emmanuel Macron criticized Azerbaijan, saying Baku appeared to have a problem with international law.
Aliyev slammed the provision of weapons by France to Armenia as “an approach that is not serving peace, but one intended to inflate a new conflict” and declared, “If any new conflict occurs in the region, France would be responsible for causing it.”
"The anti-Azerbaijani statement adopted by the European Parliament on the basis of a xenophobic and chauvinistic approach and the opinions expressed in it are unacceptable,” he said, adding that this did not serve peace and stability in the region.
Michel expressed the bloc's commitment to the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization process ahead of a trilateral meeting in Brussels.
On Thursday, the EU invited the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia for the peace talks in Brussels by the end of October.
"We believe in diplomacy and political dialogue. This is why we invite Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the meeting," Michel said following a quadrilateral meeting with Pashinyan on the sidelines of the European Political Community meeting in Granda, Spain.
Via social media platform X on Saturday, he also "reiterated the need for mutual respect of territorial integrity and sovereignty, for advancing border delimitation" and stressed the "need to ensure Karabakh Armenians' security and rights in the long term."
Aliyev did not attend the meeting in protest of France's recent military and diplomatic moves in support of Armenia.
The long-awaited meeting between the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Germany, France and Michel was canceled following the latest diplomatic spat.
Hikmat Hajiyev, foreign policy advisor to the Azerbaijani president, said Baku had proposed the participation of Türkiye and Spain in a planning meeting, but that proposal was also rejected by France.
The meeting was scheduled to be held on the sidelines of the third summit of the European Political Community, which was an initiative of Macron to which leaders from more than 40 European countries were invited.
Azerbaijan regained full control over its territory of Karabakh last month after adopting counterterrorism actions, which resulted in the surrender of illegal armed groups, ending a decadeslong conflict.
Aliyev said he had acted in accordance with international law, adding that eight villages in Azerbaijan were "still under Armenian occupation, and stressed the importance of liberating these villages from occupation."
Authorities have also repeatedly assured they will protect the rights and ensure the security of the Armenian residents in Karabakh, in line with Azerbaijani law.
Meanwhile, according to a top general of Iran, a longtime party to the Karabakh conflict, last month’s Azerbaijani operation was “a success in reclaiming lost territory and restoring territorial integrity.”
Chief of Staff of the Iranian armed forces Mohammad Baqeri commented on recent developments in the Caucasus region as he spoke at a leading military university in Tehran and described Iran's relations with neighboring countries.
"What Azerbaijan has done so far is to regain its territorial integrity," he said.
Azerbaijan was able to gain complete territorial integrity and minorities in the region "should live peacefully and with equal rights as other citizens,” Bagheri argued.
He said Azerbaijan and Armenia are "respectful neighbors" for Tehran and "maintaining the issue of territorial integrity and borders" had been discussed in meetings with officials from the two countries.
The general urged the two estranged neighbors to end hostilities while emphasizing that the "presence of foreign forces" in the region must end.
Bagheri said he had discussed with Azerbaijan and Armenia military officials who "believe the presence of foreign military is not needed to maintain regional security."
Iran wants to transform the borders from military and security to economic borders in line with Ebrahim Raisi's government's "good-neighborliness" policy, he said.
Earlier this week, two senior officials from Armenia and Azerbaijan visited Tehran and held meetings with Iranian officials, including Bagheri.
In a meeting on Wednesday with the Armenian National Security Advisor Armen Grigoryan, Bagheri said the presence of "extra-regional forces" is detrimental to security in the region.
Khalaf Khalafov, a veteran Azerbaijani diplomat and special aide to Aliyev, was also in Tehran for talks with Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.
In his meeting with Khalafov, Raisi deemed it necessary to improve relations between Tehran and Baku and to "counter plots designed to sow discord" between the two countries, according to his office.
Iran considers Karabakh part of the Republic of Azerbaijan and believes that issues related to its residents should be resolved through dialogue, according to Iran's Foreign Ministry.
