Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan has done everything possible to integrate into the structures of the European Union, but has not met reciprocity.
He called further steps to get closer to the European institutions senseless. The President underlined Brussels should have taken more account of his country’s interests.
“If we are talking about European integration in the context of EU membership, it is impossible”, – the President of Azerbaijan said in a TV interview.
Aliyev believes that further unification efforts are hindered by the decentralization of Europe. As an example, he cited Balkan countries, which have long applied for EU membership but never received it.
“But they have been promised (accession) under a number of conditions. And some of them went for these conditions. For some, the process was painful, which led to internal clashes in these countries, protests, society was fragmented”, – Aliyev explained.
The President of Azerbaijan recalled that Turkey has been hurting the EU’s door the longest, but European officials have been in no hurry to open the door.
“A number of countries of the former socialist bloc have joined the EU, and are they stronger, more developed than Turkey? Why were they given the green light and Turkey was not? Only because Turkey is a Muslim country. In this case, will Azerbaijan be accepted there? No”, – the country’s leader said.
Besides, not everything that happens in Europe would be approved in Azerbaijan. “We see the processes, in particular on the religious basis. And is it acceptable for us? No”, – Aliyev noted.
In addition, he criticized the actions of “the so-called opposition”, who take to the streets with EU flags.
“Do they want Azerbaijan’s fate to be decided in Brussels? – the president asked himself a question. – We cannot give our destiny into other hands. We have our own history, our own values”.
This is not the first time the criticism of the European Union has come from Baku. In 2013, the Azerbaijani authorities refused to sign the Association Agreement with the EU. The document prescribes countries that want to work closely with Europe to carry out political, economic, trade and judicial reforms. In exchange Brussels promises them duty-free access to the European market.
“We want to prepare a document that more adequately meets the level of our relations”, – then deputy head of presidential administration Novruz Mammadov explained Azerbaijan’s position.
President Aliyev made even tougher comments. At the Munich Security Conference in 2017 he called the Association Agreement with the EU “a unilateral instruction”. The Azerbaijani leader was also dissatisfied with the fact that European countries have not taken a clear position on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Baku does not hide any skepticism about the Eastern Partnership, a joint project of the EU and six post-Soviet countries. Although initially Azerbaijan viewed it as a way of deeper integration with Brussels.
At the Eastern Partnership summit, which marked its tenth anniversary this year, Azerbaijan, among other countries, refused to sign the final declaration, as the goals of the project are unclear and the position on many issues on the international agenda is unclear.
Azerbaijani officials attending the jubilee summit noted that the country cherishes Russian and European markets equally.