EU Council President Charles Michel's phone call to three Turkic leaders What is EU concerned about?

An Azerbaijani political analyst has said that EU Council President Charles Michel's phone call to three Turkic leaders on July 4 was motivated by concerns about issues pertaining to the institution's interests.

Expert Fikrat Sadikhov made the remarks in an interview with the Baku-based news website Bizim.Media to comment on Michel's phone conversations with the Azerbaijani, Uzbek and Kazakh leaders on the same day.

"The European Union pays serious attention to the processes taking place in the post-Soviet space. Through the mediation of Charles Michel, Azerbaijani President [Ilham Aliyev] and Armenian Prime Minister [Nikol Pashinyan] met several times in Brussels. Against the background of the meeting, the parties discussed a number of serious issues," he said.

The analyst assumed that "with his phone call, Michel put forward new proposals, which appear to be within the interests of the institution itself, around the opening [as written, presumably delimitation] of borders and the peace agreement".

 Sadikhov added that certain steps had even been taken to solve some issues between the sides.

"The work done in the direction of the Brussels negotiations and the implementation of the agreements reached, Armenia's efforts to continue to create certain problems, and other points are, of course, in the interest of Charles Michel as a mediator," he said.

Michel's call to Uzbek and Kazakh leaders stems from the organisation's concern about recent events in Central Asia, according to the analyst.

"Separatists have arisen in Uzbekistan. Of course, the EU cannot afford to ignore such a threat. The EU is concerned about the process as well. Kazakhstan, on the other hand, has emerged from a difficult situation after a series of complicated processes," he stated.

Sadikhov recalled the Kazakh president declaring that he will not recognize the post-Soviet separatist regimes.

"Against this backdrop, the processes unfolding in Kazakhstan are also attracting the attention of the EU," he said.