Baku urges French envoy in Armenia to be responsible in war-related remarks
By Vafa Ismayilova
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva has urged the French ambassador to Armenia to be more responsible in his war-related remarks as an official from an OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing country.
Abdullayeva’s statement comes after the French ambassador's remarks on the opening of the Military Trophy Park in Azerbaijan.
"The official representative of a country that has been acting as a mediator for many years should take a more responsible approach to his comments," Abdullayeva said.
The spokesperson recommended the ambassador to "look at his country, and pay attention to how these or other issues are implemented in his own country" before commenting on any issue.
"The ambassador of France, a country that has gone through
numerous wars throughout history and has presented the compositions
of these wars, or as the ambassador said 'theatres', in various
museums, will tell us how to deal with the trophies captured from
the enemy?!," Abdullayeva said.
She added that "it is interesting that the French ambassador called
Armenia's defeat a 'dignified defeat'. Maybe, according to the
French ambassador, Armenia's aggressive policy, which lasted for
almost 30 years, was also a 'dignified occupation'?"
Abdullayeva stressed that "a country that behaves with dignity, first of all, will not make a claim on the territory of a neighbouring country and occupy part of these territories for many years, will not grossly violate the rights of one million people, and purposefully kill innocent people, including civilians. A dignified country will not send a terrorist group to the territory of another country after agreeing to the cessation of hostilities and will not endanger human life by hiding mine maps. Apparently, the French ambassador has another understanding of dignity".
Along with Russia and the U.S, France had been mediating a peaceful solution to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Group’s efforts resulted in no progress as Armenia refused to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of its troops from Azerbaijani territories, which was the main obstacle to the resolution of the conflict.
The trilateral peace deal signed by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders on November 10, 2020, ended the three-decade conflict over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region that along with the seven adjacent regions came under the occupation of Armenian armed forces in the war in the 1990s.
On January 11, 2021, the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders signed the second statement since the end of the 44-day war. The newly-signed statement is set to implement clause 9 of the November 2020 statement related to the unblocking of all economic and transport communications in the region.
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