Azerbaijan is ready for EU-brokered talks with Armenia after its successful offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, an adviser to the Azeri president said today, although his country will not participate in a European summit in Spain where the issue was expected to be discussed.

“Azerbaijan is ready to participate soon in Brussels in tripartite meetings between the European Union, Azerbaijan and Armenia“, Hikmet Hajiyev, adviser to Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, said on X (formerly Twitter).

Talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan were expected to be one of the topics of discussion at the European summit being organized today in Granada.

Baku won with a lightning attack against Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians which has since been emptied of a huge portion of its population.

But on the eve of the summit Ilham Aliyev announced that he is not going, with an official from his country speaking of an “anti-Azeri atmosphere”. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who for his part attended the meeting, expressed regret for this decision.

According to Hikmet Hajiyev, his country chose not to participate because of France’s “political militarization” of the Caucasus, the European Union’s stance toward the region, and Turkey’s absence.

But this does not mean that “we reject talks with Armenia”, he insisted.

The head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna, said yesterday, Tuesday, that Paris “gave its agreement” for the delivery of military equipment to Armenia, which wants to be protected by neighboring Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, Armenia and Azerbaijan today accused each other of firing on their soldiers at the border, without reporting any injuries.

In Granada, in the absence of Ilham Aliyev, Nikol Pashinyan will have a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Council President Charles Michel.

The Armenian Prime Minister also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars, one with the dissolution of the USSR and the other in the fall of 2020, over control of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

Armenia now fears that its powerful neighbor, much richer and better equipped, will launch operations in its southern territories.

Let alone where the country has been frustrated by its ally Russia, which it accuses of abandoning it during the Nagorno-Karabakh offensive.

Armenia, which recently reached out to the West, no longer hesitates to criticize Moscow’s actions.

It also validated this week accession to the International Criminal Courtwhich issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in the spring for illegally transporting children from Ukraine to Russia.