Association of Friends of Azerbaijan in France condemns French candidate’s illegal Karabakh visit
The Association of Azerbaijan’s Friends in France condemned the provocative visit of the head of the Ile-de-France region, the Republican Party candidate in the upcoming presidential election Valerie Pecresse, made on December 22 to the Azerbaijani Khankandi city, Trend has reported with the reference to the association’s statement.
The Association underlined that Khankandi city is recognized by international organizations as part of Azerbaijan's territory, stressing that visits to these lands without the permission of the Azerbaijani authorities are unacceptable.
They stressed that by the visit to Karabakh, Pecresse violated Azerbaijan's sovereignty, committed a provocation and deprived herself of the right to participate in peacekeeping activities.
"Azerbaijan is a secular country, like France. Therefore, it’s not clear why Pecresse's campaign statements are aimed at exaggerating the so-called religious threat against Eastern Christians?! In Azerbaijan, which has been visited by the Pope several times in recent years, Christians live in peace and tranquillity," the statement reads.
The Association recalled that the Karabakh conflict between the two states was of an exclusively territorial nature.
"Over the course of 30 years, Armenia, contrary to the condemnation of the UN Security Council, has occupied almost 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory by the military way," the association underlined.
The statement noted that the legal liberation of the occupied territories after the restoration of the ceasefire in 2020 should be assessed as a victory of international law, just as in the case of France's liberation of Alsace-Lorraine from German occupation in 1918.
"France and its representatives must demonstrate impartiality, respecting elementary norms of international law, in order to strive for a sustainable peace," the association stated.
Earlier, Baku has sent a protest note to Paris over a French presidential candidate's illegal visit to Azerbaijan's Karabakh region.
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