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Azerbaijan-EU Relations: The role of the EU as a mediator for the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict and prospects for finalizing the agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan-EU Relations: The role of the EU as a mediator for the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict and prospects for finalizing the agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan

With the adoption of new policy objectives by the European Commission for the post-2020 period, the European Union (EU) has focused its greater attention on the facilitation of security in the region of the Eastern Partnership (EaP), which also includes Azerbaijan and Armenia. While the EU is not willing to participate in empowering the security of the region through military means, it has focused its objectives on the strengthening of the economy, connectivity, and society for greater security in the region (European Council, Eastern Partnership, 2022). For the achievement of greater security in its immediate neighborhood, which includes the region of the Caucasus, it is important for the EU to have peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which makes the EU's participation in the achievement of a sustainable peace more attractive for the EU. The achievement of sustainable peace in the region is not only a matter of interest for the European Union as the normative superpower but also matter of prosperity and security within the EU itself, as the protection of the periphery is important for the greater development of the Union. Along with the question of the support and the role of the EU in the achievement of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it is also important to consider and understand the process and the progress in the finalization of the new agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan itself. Since the legal basis of the relations between the supranational union and the Republic of Azerbaijan was laid in 1996 with the signing of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), which entered into force in 1999, (MFA of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 2022) the relations between the parties are not reflected according to the current ones, as there have been enormous changes in the development of the relations during the last 26 years. Having the aim of the creation of a security belt around its borders, it is essential for the European Union to work on the strengthening of economic prosperity in the region and peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The evolution of relations between the EU and Azerbaijan, which have nearly reached the level of strategic partnership in the last 26 years, necessitates the conclusion of a new agreement for the renewal of the legal basis of the parties' relations.

 

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