DEVELOPMENT TRENDS OF RELATIONS OF AZERBAIJAN-EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

The development trends of relations between the European Union and the Republic of Azerbaijan are of great importance in terms of monitoring the dynamics of the development of this international organization’s relations with Azerbaijan as a whole. It is no coincidence that the joint statement adopted by the EU and its member states on December 31, 1991, recognizing the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan, revealed a more dualistic position of the EU in the initial stages. Thus, the European states initially treated the Republic of Azerbaijan, which had regained its independence, and the South Caucasus as a whole, as a territory within the sphere of influence of Russia. It is more clearly seen, especially in relation to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, which became more intense since the 1980s. It is not for nothing that, apart from Azerbaijani researchers, even Western researchers characterize the initial period of development of relations between the parties as “years of lost or costly failures”.