Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has opted out of the Karabakh settlement meeting scheduled for Thursday in Granada, Spain.

The gathering, expected to include Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and leaders from the EU, France, and Germany, faced contention over the exclusion of Türkiye, insisted upon by Azerbaijan.

Reports from Azerbaijani news agencies suggest that Azerbaijan's insistence on Türkiye's participation met strong opposition from Germany and France, leading to President Aliyev's decision not to attend.

Baku cited the pro-Armenian statements by French officials, the visit of French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna to Armenia, allegations about the supply of weapons, and accusations against Azerbaijan by EU Council President Charles Michel as reasons for the move.

The Azerbaijani presidency emphasized that it sees no need to participate in a negotiation format tainted by external influences and prefers discussions within the region.

It suggested a revival of the former trilateral format of the EU-Azerbaijan-Armenia dialogue for discussing and resolving Karabakh issues.

The rejection of any format involving France was underlined, and Azerbaijan expressed its disapproval of discussions on the region's problems with countries outside the region.

The Azerbaijani army initiated an anti-terrorism operation in Karabakh on September 19 to establish constitutional order. The operation successfully concluded, resulting in the surrender of illegal Armenian armed forces in Karabakh. Azerbaijan, having established full sovereignty in the region, subsequently called on the Armenian population to integrate into Azerbaijani society. (ILKHA)