European Parliament President Metsola and Azerbaijan President Aliyev Clash at Yerevan Summit

On 4 May 2026, during the European Political Community (EPC) meeting in Yerevan, Armenia, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan confronted European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. Aliyev accused the Parliament of “spreading slander and lies” about Azerbaijan and announced a suspension of parliamentary cooperation. Metsola responded with an unscheduled intervention, defending the Parliament’s democratic procedures.

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Ilham Aliyev leads Azerbaijan; Roberta Metsola chairs the European Parliament; Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to Azerbaijan’s president, heads the Foreign Policy Affairs Department. The European Parliament, a directly elected EU body, and Azerbaijan’s parliament, which recently approved a resolution condemning “hostile activities,” are the institutional actors.

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• 04 May 2026 – Aliyev delivers unscheduled criticism of the European Parliament.

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• Moments later – Metsola takes the floor and rebuts.

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• Later that day – Aliyev meets Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Baku and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on 05 May.

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• The European Parliament has adopted 14 resolutions critical of Azerbaijan.

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• The Yerevan EPC gathered leaders from nearly 50 European countries.

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• The next EPC summit is scheduled for Azerbaijan in May 2028.

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Aliyev framed the Parliament’s actions as an “obsession” with Azerbaijan and a sabotage of the peace process. Metsola stressed that the Parliament is a “directly elected democratic body” whose resolutions reflect majority decisions, even when uncomfortable. Hajiyev called the recent European Parliament resolution a “diplomatic disgrace and diplomatic failure,” accusing members of creating obstacles to peace. The European Parliament’s latest resolution described the detention of Armenian prisoners of war by Azerbaijan as “unjust” and demanded their immediate release.

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European Parliament critics have repeatedly highlighted concerns over Azerbaijan’s human-rights record, especially the treatment of Armenian detainees. Azerbaijan’s leadership counters that the Parliament’s resolutions constitute interference and has pledged to suspend all parliamentary cooperation.

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Sources note that Aliyev’s intervention was not scheduled, but provide no detail on the specific content of the 14 prior resolutions. The precise scope of the suspension of cooperation remains unspecified.

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• “We will never change the way we work," she told the chamber, "even if it is uncomfortable".” — Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament

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• “spreading slander and lies” — Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan

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• “a diplomatic disgrace and diplomatic failure” — Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan

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• “unjust” — European Parliament resolution on the detention of Armenian prisoners of war

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Aliyev is set to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Baku and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on 05 May. The meeting follows Aliyev’s announcement of suspending cooperation with the European Parliament. The EPC will reconvene in Azerbaijan in May 2028.

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