Moscow, 4 October 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Azerbaijan's president will not take part in a planned meeting to discuss the conflict over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Granada, Spain, on the sidelines of the EU summit, according to media reports on Wednesday.

Azerbaijani news agency APA reported that President Ilham Aliyev will not attend the meeting, scheduled for Thursday, because of the "anti-Azerbaijani sentiment" of other summit participants.

Azerbaijan's authoritarian government captured Nagorno-Karabakh at the end of September after two days of fierce fighting. About 100,000 inhabitants, almost all of them ethnic Armenians, have since fled the region for Armenia.

The disputed territory is within Azerbaijan's internationally recognized borders but was, at least until recent days, populated largely by ethnic Armenians.

In Granada, there were hopes that Azerbaijan's Aliyev would meet with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to discuss a normalization of relations.

Representatives of France, Germany and the EU were also to be present at the meeting.

However, Baku reportedly also insisted on the participation of Turkey, which is considered Azerbaijan's most important ally in the region.

After the request was rejected, Azerbaijan reportedly decided that the format of the meeting was not appropriate.

Photo: MIA archive