Asim Mollazade comments on EU Partnership summit in Riga

Mollazade, also a member of the foreign relations committee at Milli Maclis (Azerbaijan’s parliament), commented for ANN on the Eastern Partnership summited that started on May 21 in Riga, the Latvian capital.

At the Riga summit, Armenia will try again to mislead the international community as it has done earlier. The country will try to cover up its occupation of Azerbaijani territory and violation of international law, the lawmaker said.

"They (Armenians) seek to sell themselves to the international community as good guys. But the country decided to back away from integration to Europe and go back to its master. Contrary to expectations, we’ve been hearing positive views on Armenia after the country joined the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union and the Customs Union. European structures need to think about this seriously.”

Discussions in Riga will center on the developments in Ukraine and the occupation of the Ukrainian territory, Mollazade said.

Commenting on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s decision to skip his visit to Riga to attend the summit, Mollazade said this was connected with an event the European Parliament plans to hold on Azerbaijan.

"The Azerbaijani president decided not to join the summit as the European Parliament refused to cancel that event,” Mollazade said. 

President Aliyev’s refusal to join the summit was connected with his "tight schedule” ahead of next month’s inaugural European Games, Ali Hasanov, the president’s political affairs aide, told state news agency Azartac.

The pro-government news agency APA, however, cited "unnamed diplomatic sources” as saying that Aliyev refused to go to the Riga summit because of 

an "anti-Azerbaijan campaign” that has started in the West ahead of the Games.

APA said that the president’s foreign affairs adviser, Novruz Mammadov, had earlier warned the EU office in Baku that Aliyev would not attend the Riga summit if the campaign didn’t stop.

On Azerbaijan’s relationship with the European Union, Mollazade said:

"Azerbaijan and the European Union have signed an agreement on energy cooperation. This agreement plays and will continue to play an important role in boosting cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union. Azerbaijan has always been ready to cooperate with the EU in other fields, including education, culture and health. Azerbaijan simply would like to see the EU respect norms of international law.”