News - Marukyan: ‘If West doesn’t respect its values and itself, why should Azerbaijan?’

Edmon Marukyan, Armenia's Ambassador with Special Assignments, has criticized the West for failing to unequivocally condemn Azerbaijan's military operations against the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. He asserts that this hesitancy demonstrates a lack of respect for the West's own values and standards. Marukyan shared his views on this matter via his X microblog. In his statement, Marukyan pointed out that Western partners often refrain from using clear and direct language, possibly to keep Azerbaijan engaged in dialogue. However, this approach has seemingly emboldened Azerbaijan, leading it to decline participation in a pre-planned five-party meeting scheduled to occur in Grenada, Spain, the following day. “Since many Western partners avoid calling things by their names and condemning first, Azerbaijan’s military aggression against peaceful people of Nagorno Karabakh, and second, the forceful deportation and ethnic cleansing of more than 100 thousand ethnic Armenians. Our western partners avoid clear and straight forward formulations, as if to keep Azerbaijan on their platforms, but eventually, Azerbaijan feels more unconstrained and unpunishable, refusing to take part in the prearranged five-way crisis meeting scheduled to be held in Grenada, Spain tomorrow. Therefore, our Western partners should learn lessons from their soft talk and apply appropriate measures against Azerbaijan for the crimes it has committed. The West should finally understand that if you don’t respect your values, your standards and yourself, why should Azerbaijan?” he wrote. Previously, Azerbaijani media reported that President Ilham Aliyev had declined to attend the meeting in Spain, where discussions were intended to occur with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The meeting also aimed to include French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and EU Council President Charles Michel. The reported reasons for this refusal included France's "destructive" position and disagreements of Paris and Berlin regarding the participation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the meeting.