Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker, the chairwoman of the Bundestag’s committee on legal affairs, insisted that European sanctions would only dent prospects for an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal.
“I want to stress that the facts presented by you cannot be justified,” Winkelmeier-Becker told reporters in Yerevan. “All that is alien to us. I come from a country where it is impossible to imagine such a violation of human rights, the displacement of an ethnic group.”
“At this stage of the peace process, we should act like an honest broker, a facilitator, and I think that such a contribution to the peace process on our part is in Armenia’s interests. Sanctions have a limited impact, and their application at this stage could hinder the peace process,” said the lawmaker affiliated with Germany’s main opposition Christian Democratic Union party.
Winkelmeier-Becker spoke at the end at a visit to Armenia by a German parliamentary delegation led by her. The delegation is scheduled to visit Baku later this week.
The EU and Germany in particular were quick to condemn Azerbaijan’s September offensive that forced Karabakh’s practically entire population to flee to Armenia. In an October resolution, the European Parliament accused Azerbaijan of committing “ethnic cleaning” and called on the EU to impose sanctions on Baku.
The sanctions require the unanimous backing of all EU member states. None of them -- including France, the main EU backer of Armenia -- has voiced support for them. French President Emmanuel Macron said in October that punitive measures against Baku would be counterproductive at this point.
The 27-nation bloc signaled no change in this policy even after what its foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, described as territorial claims to Armenia made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev last month.
“Any violation of Armenia’s territorial integrity would be unacceptable and will have severe consequences for our relations with Azerbaijan,” Borrell warned on January 22.