Azerbaijan concerned about French officials' illegal visits to occupied lands
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By Rashid Shirinov
The mayor of the French city of Colmar Gilbert Meyer, President of the French Association of Friends of Azerbaijan Jean-Francois Mancel and the Secretary General of the Association, Head of the Azerbaijani House in Paris Mirvari Fataliyeva met in Baku with the Chairman of Azerbaijan’s State Committee for Work with Diaspora Fuad Muradov, the Committee informed on May 10.
The sides discussed issues of cooperation between the Committee and the city of Colmar, further expansion of mutual ties and plans for further activities.
In addition, deep concern was expressed on French officials’ illegal visits to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan at the invitation of pro-Armenian diaspora organizations.
A number of instances of visits of French officials to the occupied lands of Azerbaijan and of signing some fake documents between French and Armenia-occupied towns of Azerbaijan harm an early resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is obvious that all such visits and fake agreements are well paid by the Armenian Diaspora in France.
Actions of such French officials contradict the official position of Paris, which has many times stated it supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Moreover, France is a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, which makes efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign state with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.
Until now, Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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