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Azerbaijan summoned the EU ambassador in Baku on Friday to protest what it called “unfounded and biased” language in a European Parliament resolution on Karabakh Armenians and detained Armenian nationals, the foreign ministry said.
EU Ambassador Marijana Kujundzic was called to the Foreign Ministry after the European Parliament adopted a resolution that urged Azerbaijan to ensure the return of Armenians who left Karabakh and called for the release of detained Armenian citizens.
During the meeting, Azerbaijan strongly condemned the wording of the European Parliament resolution and handed a diplomatic note to the EU envoy.
The Foreign Ministry said the assessments in the resolution distorted facts and contradicted the principles of objectivity, as well as obligations to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.
Baku said the European Parliament’s position negatively affects the normalization process in the region and the future of Azerbaijan-EU relations.
Azerbaijan said calls in the resolution regarding the return of Karabakh’s Armenian residents amounted to interference in its internal affairs.
The ministry said Azerbaijan had proposed integration to Armenian citizens in Karabakh in 2023, but that Armenians voluntarily left the region.
It said statements suggesting otherwise did not reflect the truth.
The European Parliament resolution reiterated EU support for the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians.
Azerbaijan also rejected the resolution’s calls for the release of people of Armenian origin described as “prisoners of war.”
The ministry said such calls were legally unacceptable.
Baku said it had taken a humanitarian approach by releasing many detainees and taking confidence-building steps.
It said those with court rulings against them had been convicted of serious crimes, including terrorism, sabotage and war crimes.
The European Parliament resolution denounced what it called Azerbaijan’s “unjust detention” of Armenian prisoners of war, detainees and hostages, and demanded their immediate release.
Azerbaijan also rejected allegations concerning the destruction of cultural and religious heritage, calling them completely unfounded and unacceptable.
The ministry said European institutions had not given sufficient attention to what it described as the large-scale destruction of Azerbaijan’s cultural and religious heritage during the occupation period.
The European Parliament resolution also called for the protection of Armenian cultural heritage and accountability for the destruction of Armenian cultural and religious sites.
Azerbaijan called on the EU to prevent steps it said harm relations with Baku and damage the peace and normalization process in the region.
The European Parliament adopted the resolution a day earlier, calling on Azerbaijan to ensure the return of Armenians who left Karabakh, release detained Armenian citizens and protect Armenian cultural heritage.
Ethnic Armenians in Karabakh, an internationally recognized part of Azerbaijan, broke away from Baku’s control as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought two wars over the mountainous region before Baku took it back in 2023. Karabakh’s Armenian population of around 100,000 people fled to Armenia.
Karabakh officials captured at the time were put on trial in Baku in January 2025 on charges including war crimes.
International human rights groups have raised concerns about the fairness of the trial.
In February, Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian-born billionaire banker who served as a senior official in Nagorno-Karabakh, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
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