Azerbaijan's parliament suspends ties with European Parliament over 'anti-Azerbaijani activities'

BAKU -- Azerbaijan's parliament voted on Friday to suspend all cooperation with the European Parliament, in what Baku described as a response to "anti-Azerbaijani activities" by the bloc's legislature.

The parliament, known as Milli Majlis, passed a resolution halting cooperation across all tracks with the European Parliament and ending its participation in the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.

At the opening of the spring session, Milli Majlis Speaker Sahiba Gafarova announced that the chamber would take responsive measures over what she called anti-Azerbaijani activities by the European Parliament.

The legislature simultaneously initiated withdrawal procedures from the EuroNest Parliamentary Assembly, a regional inter-parliamentary forum with the European Parliament and parliaments of several other countries.

Earlier, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry summoned EU Ambassador Marijana Kujundzic and protested over a European Parliament resolution adopted on Thursday, which Baku said contained unsubstantiated and biased provisions against the country.