A letter signed by EFA MEPs in collaboration with other parliamentary groups urges the EU to open dialogue and apply sanctions to Azerbaijan in response to violations of the Human Rights of the Armenians from the Republic of Artsakh
More than 2 years have passed since Azerbaijan occupied the territory of the Republic of Artsakh and expelled more than 100.000 local Armenians from their homes. The mass force displacement of people is a war crime and a crime against humanity. Nevertheless, after those events, the EU did not take any action to force Azerbaijan to respect democratic values and human rights.
In EFA, we do not forget the people of Artsakh and will always stand up in support of their rights. This is why the EFA Group in the European Parliament (Diana Riba MEP, Ana Miranda MEP, and Vicent Marzà MEP), together with other parliamentary representatives, have signed a letter urging the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EU to reassess and strengthen Europe’s policy towards Azerbaijan.
In the document, the MEPs point out four interrelated and unresolved issues:
- The continued denial of the rights of Armenians from the Republic of Artsakh, including the absence of a credible framework for the right to return and the lack of a mechanism for economic compensation or reparation for displaced persons.
- The continued detention of Armenian prisoners from Artsakh, who on 5 February 2026 were sentenced by a Baku military court to heavy prison terms, including life imprisonment for some of them. We call for the immediate release of all Armenian political prisoners.
- The systematic oppression of political opposition and civil society in Azerbaijan.
- Serious and documented concerns regarding Azerbaijan’s role in facilitating the circumvention of EU restrictive measures against the Russian Federation, including in the energy sector.
For these reasons, they propose a series of actions to push Azerbaijan towards respecting human rights. These include reviewing the application of the human-rights clause contained in the EU–Azerbaijan Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, activating the EU Global Human Rights Regime, urgently convening the EU-Azerbaijan political dialogue at the highest level, suspending or freezing of enhanced energy cooperation, and applying additional restrictive measures to other Azerbaijani legal entities and individuals involved in the circumvention of sanctions to the Russian Federation.
We don’t forget. In September 2023, the effective occupation of the territory of Artsakh by Azerbaijan forced the displacement of 99% of the local population under the threat of ethnic cleansing. The rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh continue to be violated. The EU is founded on strong democratic values and cannot turn a blind eye to these events or their consequences. We should not normalize what happened in Artsakh by relating to Azerbaijan as if nothing happened. EFA and its MEPs will keep supporting the people of Artsakh in their pursuit of justice. We want an EU that defends democracy and human rights everywhere.