France and Turkey block NATO’s drive to deepen ties with Caucasus countries

BRUSSELS — An effort to intensify NATO’s cooperation with Armenia and Azerbaijan is faltering over a feud between France and Turkey, just as Russia loosens its grip on the region.

France has refused to approve a new partnership scheme with Baku, citing the imprisonment of a French citizen as a core reason, according to three NATO diplomats who were granted anonymity to speak freely. In return, Turkey has blocked a parallel renewal of Armenia’s plan out of solidarity with its close ally Azerbaijan, they said.

The two Caucasus countries are seeking deeper cooperation with NATO on exercises, military training and other areas, said five NATO diplomats. As a result, both plans have been stuck in limbo for more than a year, they added.

The months-long NATO standoff has taken on fresh urgency after France blocked the renewal of EU sanctions against Russia and allies of Vladimir Putin last week. Paris dropped its objection only after Brussels lifted restrictions on Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov, prompting Azerbaijan to release several prisoners, including a French national.

France is now facing pressure to lift its veto on tighter NATO ties with Baku after the prisoners were freed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev last Wednesday.

“If they don’t lift it, it would not be a sound political move nor would they show themselves as an ally acting in the interests of the alliance,” said one of the NATO diplomats. “For Armenia, it’s very dangerous — we think it’s good to have them close by.”

A second NATO diplomat said: “There is frustration — stop using NATO for bilateral issues.”

Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have cooled relations with Russia in recent years and are looking to deepen ties with Europe. Yerevan suspended its membership of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization defense alliance, adopted a law in favor of EU accession and has faced trade restrictions and severe criticism from Moscow in response. 

France has long maintained close ties with Armenia, while Baku has relied on its close alliance with Turkey to balance Russian influence in the region.A Turkish official said, “The issue is definitely not a Türkiye-France or Türkiye-Armenia spat,” adding: “We have been ready for quite a long time to approve Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s ITPP documents together … with a view to achieving early approval of both.”

NATO’s partnerships — dubbed Individually Tailored Partnership Programmes — are the alliance’s principal tool for political dialogue and military cooperation with non-NATO countries. They are renewed every four years, and their level of ambition depends on the appetite of recipient countries to integrate with the alliance.

The delay has forced NATO to temporarily extend Armenia and Azerbaijan’s outdated partnerships despite negotiations on the new plans being near-finalized, three of the diplomats said. The new plans would allow their participation in joint military exercises, boost military-to-military training and intensify cultural cooperation all the way down to setting up local English-language lessons, they added.

Some worry the delay could also hamper Armenia’s drive to realign with the West, given the risks Yerevan has taken in shifting its foreign policy away from Russia.

“It’s a concern … we create expectations for some countries then we don’t live up to them — that can then create resentment,” said the third NATO diplomat, adding that bringing Baku and Yerevan closer to the alliance could help cement a fragile peace between both countries.

Now that “there is peace between the two countries, it’s a good opportunity for NATO to push them more to our side,” the diplomat added.

The French delegation to NATO declined to comment. The Armenian and Azerbaijani missions to NATO didn’t respond to a request for comment.

A NATO official speaking on behalf of the organization said the alliance “has well established relations with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, based on political dialogue and practical cooperation, across a range of areas” like defense planning, education, and countering hybrid threats. “We stand ready to advance these two partnerships,” they added.