Baku declines to join anti-Russian EPC declaration

Baku did not join three documents finalised at the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Dublin, most notably the security declaration, which contains anti-Russian language.

Aykhan Hajizada, spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, said Baku regards the EPC as an informal dialogue platform designed to foster cooperation. The ministry stressed that Azerbaijan deliberately refrains from signing politically charged documents.

"The EPC was established as an informal platform for dialogue aimed at promoting mutual trust and cooperation among countries. Azerbaijan’s participation in the EPC is intended to facilitate an exchange of views on matters of common interest, discuss approaches to shared challenges, and explore opportunities to further strengthen cooperation with participating countries. Accordingly, Azerbaijan has not joined the aforementioned documents that entail additional legal and political commitments",

Aykhan Hajizada said.

The security declaration adopted at the close of the EPC summit calls for mandatory participation by European countries in negotiations on Ukraine and explicitly ties Ukraine's security to that of the Euro-Atlantic region.

The declaration also sets out an intention to give Kiev robust and effective guarantees against "further aggression". The signatories further stated that "hybrid threats" had only strengthened their resolve