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EU mediation best way to Azerbaijan-Armenia peace: German minister

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Saturday insisted that European mediation was the best option for arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan to reach a lasting peace agreement.

EU mediation best way to Azerbaijan-Armenia peace: German minister
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev (R) shakes hands with Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (L) during their meeting in Baku. Photo: AFP/ Azerbaijani Presidential Press Office.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Saturday insisted that European mediation was the best option for arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan to reach a lasting peace agreement.

The Caucasus neighbours have been locked in a decades-long conflict for control of Azerbaijan’s Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Baku reclaimed in a lightning offensive in September.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have held several rounds of peace talks under EU mediation. Both leaders have said a peace treaty could be signed in the coming months.

On a visit to Azerbaijan, Baerbock said she had “expressed concern that with certain actors, doubts can be raised whether they really negotiate as honest brokers for peace on the ground”.

Last month, Aliyev refused to attend a round of peace talks with Pashinyan in Spain over what he said was France’s “biased position”.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had been scheduled to join EU chief Charles Michel as mediators at those talks. So far, there has been no visible progress in EU efforts to organise a fresh round of negotiations.

“The European efforts for peace offer the most concrete path,” Baerbock told journalists in Baku, speaking alongside her Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov.

She said she hoped that European-led peace talks could begin “as soon as possible”.

Bayramov confirmed Azerbaijan’s willingness to negotiate “regardless of geography”. He said Baku has tabled “peace proposals to Armenia and if Armenia accepts
them, negotiations can continue”.

Baerbock arrived in Baku from Yerevan where she also said that European moderation efforts “are a bridge and the fastest way to peace”. She has also urged Baku to ensure “a secure and dignified return” of ethnic Armenian refugees to Karabakh.

Almost the entire Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh — more than 100,000 people — fled to Armenia after Azerbaijani troops recaptured the mountainous enclave.

Bayramov said that “Armenian residents of Karabakh are full-fledged citizens of Azerbaijan, and all their rights will be respected.”

Until Aliyev refused to attend the Spain talks in October, the European Union and United States had played a lead role in mediating Azerbaijani-Armenian normalisation talks.

The traditional regional power broker Russia — bogged down in its Ukraine war — has seen its influence waning in the Caucasus.

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GERMAN CITIZENSHIP

German conservatives vow to overturn dual citizenship if re-elected

Foreigners in Germany are waiting on tenterhooks for the introduction of the new dual nationality law on Thursday - but the centre-right CDU and CSU say they would overturn the reform if re-elected next year.

German conservatives vow to overturn dual citizenship if re-elected

“The CDU and CSU will reverse this unsuccessful reform,” Alexander Throm (CDU), spokesperson on domestic policy for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told DPA on Tuesday.

“Dual citizenship must remain the exception and be limited to countries that share our values.”

Throm also criticised the new citizenship law for reducing the amount of time foreigners need to live in the country before naturalising as Germans, describing the new residence requirements as “far too short”.

“After five or even three years, it is not yet possible to determine with certainty whether integration has been successful in the long term,” he stated.

“The recent caliphate demonstrations and the rampant Islamist extremism, often by people with German passports, must be a wake-up call for us all.”

READ ALSO: Which foreign residents are likely to become German after citizenship law change?

Despite vociferous opposition, the alliance between the Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party (CSU) was powerless to stop the traffic-light coalition’s citizenship reform passing in both the Bundestag and Bundesrat earlier this year. 

The reform, which permits the holding of multiple passports, lowers residence requirements and removes language hurdles for certain groups, is set to come into force on June 27th. 

But with the CDU and CSU emerging as clear winners in the recent EU parliamentary elections and regularly landing on 30 percent or above in the polls, it’s possible that the party could be on course to re-enter government next year. 

In this situation, the centre-right parties have pledged to try and undo what senior CDU politicians have described as a “dangerous” reform.

“It is not unusual for successive governments to reverse decisions made by the previous government,” Andrea Lindholz, the head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group said in a recent response to a question

“We will maintain our position on this and will continue to strive for a corresponding change.”

READ ALSO: What are citizenship offices around Germany doing to prepare for the new law?

Whether the CDU and CSU can secure enough votes at both state and federal elections to change the law in the future remains to be seen.

The parties may also have to compromise on their plans with any future coalition partner, such as the Greens, Social Democrats (SPD) or Free Democrats (FDP), all of whom support liberal immigration laws and the holding of multiple nationalities. 

‘Citizenship devaluation law’

The CDU and CSU parties, which form a centre-right alliance nicknamed the Union, have long been opposed to dual nationality in Germany.

During their years of governing in a so-called grand coalition with the centre-right Social Democrats (SPD), the parties had regularly made reforms of citizenship one of their red lines, citing the danger of hostile nations influencing Germany from within. 

In a recent parliamentary speech back in January, Throm had slammed the bill as a “citizenship devaluation law” and accused the government of trying to generate a new electorate to win votes.

CDU politician Alexander Throm speaks in a debate in the German Bundestag

CDU politician Alexander Throm speaks in a debate in the German Bundestag. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Soeder

In comments aimed primarily at Germany’s large Turkish diaspora, the CDU politician claimed that people who had lived in Germany for decades but not taken German citizenship had already chosen their old country over Germany.

The majority of Turks in Germany are also supporters of the authoritarian president Recep Erdogan, he argued.

Responding to the claims, FDP migration expert Ann-Veruschka Jurisch said the opposition was fuelling resentments against migrants by claiming the government was “squandering German citizenship”.

In fact, she argued, the reform has tightened up requirements by ensuring that people who claim benefits and cannot support themselves are unable to become German citizens.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about Germany’s citizenship law reform

In addition, the B1 language requirements have only been softened in a few exceptional cases, for example to honour the lifetime achievements of the guest worker generation who had few opportunities when they arrived, Jurisch said. 

If foreigners have committed crimes, the authorities will be able to investigate whether these involved racist or anti-Semitic motives before citizenship is granted, she added. 

With reporting by DPA

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