On June 26-28, the APRI Forum 2024 themed "Building the Future" will take place in Yerevan. Armenian and foreign policymakers, scientists and civil society members will the geopolitical challenges and opportunities facing Armenia. European Union Ambassador to Armenia Vasilis Maragos answered Hetq’s questions about the EU Monitoring Mission on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Recently, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense reported ceasefire violations by Armenia, which the Armenian Defense Ministry has denied. Should the EU monitoring mission react to confirm or deny such accusations by either of the sides?

The EU Monitoring Mission in Armenia is doing a great job monitoring the border, reducing the incidents and demonstrating its impartiality, but also the investment in human security. This has already had an impact. When it comes to these accusations, I cannot comment myself. I think that the EU Mission has continued its monitoring during this period. It also announced that everything was calm. On the other side, Armenia has made a proposal for a bilateral mechanism which we have supported. We are ready to support it if the two sides believe that it’s useful.

But on the other side, I think that both sides must continue engaging in a confidence building in a positive-spirit so that any accusations of this type are clarified and there is no further risk for peace and normalization in the region, which we fully support. 

Are there any areas at this moment that aren’t accessible to the monitoring mission and if so, how are you planning to move forward to minimize the risks? 

The European Union Mission has a very clear mandate to monitor the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. As you know, there were some areas where there were some challenges when it came to access. This has been discussed. We are now working with the Armenian authorities to make sure such areas do not exist.

But we are in the hands of the Armenian authorities when it comes to this issue. From our side, we are committed to fully covering the mandate and to provide those services that we have been asked to do and member states have agreed to the monitoring of the whole border.

Lena Sahakyan, Hetq Media Factory, Anush Mkrtchyan