By Gevorg Stamboltsian
YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry summoned the European Union’s ambassador in Baku on Monday, February 12, to denounce a monitoring mission launched by the EU along Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan a year ago.
In an ensuing statement, the ministry questioned the impartiality of the mission and warned it against causing “damage to Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.”
In particular, it linked EU monitors to a Czech national who was arrested by Azerbaijani security services on February 3. Baku claimed that the still unidentified man illegally entered the country from Armenia.
The statement also condemned the monitors for escorting “official and unofficial European delegations” to border areas during their visits to Armenia. Such visits are used for spreading “anti-Azerbaijani propaganda,” it claimed without giving details.
French Gendarmerie General William De Meyer was one of the European officials who inspected a section of the Armenian-Azerbaijan border earlier this month. Azerbaijani state television claimed afterwards that France is helping Armenia prepare a military operation against Azerbaijan.
