Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Azerbaijan’s popular Russian language news website Day.Az carries an article by Abdul Kerimkhanov, editor-in-chief and expert, on France's pro-Armenian and anti-Azerbaijani policies to the detriment of European values, thus encouraging the aggressor country to trample upon centuries-long relations highly cherished in the South Caucasus and not only here.

The original article can be found at the link below:

France's international policy vis-a-vis Azerbaijan has left much to be desired for three decades. It is an open secret that France, as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, was the most pro-Armenian party in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. Various French politicians one after the other, as one, chanted statements pleasant to the ear of the Armenian lobby, which have nothing to do with reality. Naturally - not free of charge.

Against the backdrop of the notorious events in Ukraine, the political leadership of Armenia behaves primitively, openly taking the side of one of the participants in the conflict. The EU clearly sees and understands that Yerevan does not give a damn about its requests to comply with international sanctions. At the same time, Armenia did not lift a finger to send at least one box of humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Notably, despite the obvious sabotage from Armenia, France’s pro-Armenian support only grows. The corrupt French politicians with no shame or conscience feed lies to their people through the media and TV channels, shielding official Yerevan in every possible way.

France was especially zealous during and after the Second Karabakh War. Throughout the 44 days of hostilities, the French leadership went out of its way to prevent the inevitable collapse of the Armenian army on the battlefield and stop the war. When the Azerbaijani army forced Armenia to surrender and the conflict was finally resolved, the French Senate adopted a resolution calling on the country's government to recognize the independence of the non-existent "NKR".

Tensions in the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and France escalated over the illegal visit of then-French presidential candidate Valerie Pecresse to Karabakh without the consent of the Azerbaijani leadership, which grossly violated our national laws. However, the illegal trip to the territories temporarily controlled by the Russian peacekeepers did not bring her any dividends whatsoever - she received only 5% of the votes, which was the worst result for the center-rights, who for decades were one of the leading political forces in France.

At the outset of the year, in an interview with Azerbaijani TV channels, President Ilham Aliyev condemned Pecresse's illegal trip to Karabakh. "If we had known about the last illegal trip of Valerie Pecresse, we definitely would not have let them back," the president said.

But there was no apology from French officials for Pecresse's reckless act. Moreover, a couple of days later, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian stated in the French parliament that the words expressed by the Azerbaijani president about Pecresse’s illegal visit to the Karabakh region were allegedly "unacceptable in form and content".

A statement by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry was not long in coming: "Unfortunately, French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian made a statement unworthy of a diplomat in the National Assembly of France...

“Thus, Eric Ciotti, a member of the National Assembly from the Republican Party, who tried to insult the Azerbaijani president for provocative purposes, should have been severely reprimanded and punished. Minister Le Drian said that the words expressed by the Azerbaijani president about Valerie Pecresse’s illegal visit to the Karabakh region are unacceptable in form and content," former spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Leyla Abdullayeva said.

Similarly in nature to Pecresse, another lobby-fed freeloader Madame Marine Le Pen called Karabakh "historically and culturally Armenian land", thereby insulting Azerbaijanis, who are the indigenous people of the region and whose houses were razed to the ground by Le Pen's pets. And although the far-right nationalist, somehow managed to bypass one of the main contenders for the second round, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Le Pen still miserably lost the election to the current president Emmanuel Macron, just like five years ago.

Speaking of Macron, as they say, the fish rots from the head. The French president was especially enthusiastic, allowing himself to make a number of reckless statements about Azerbaijan in an interview on the air of France 2 TV channel on October 12.

The answer followed momentarily. President Ilham Aliyev made it clear that speaking the language of threats with Azerbaijan is to the detriment of France itself. On October 14, during a meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of State, the Azerbaijani leader stated that Baku no longer sees any opportunity for Paris to participate as a mediator in the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations after Macron's inappropriate statements, putting an end to France's ability to mediate in the normalization of relations between Baku and Yerevan.

Thus, France once again demonstrated that the norms and standards of diplomacy, human rights, humanism, and democratic values ​​ have nothing in common with this country today. Preaching this topic, France, with its pro-Armenian antics, in fact, exposed itself, proving its uselessness as a neutral mediator. With its hypocritical policy towards Azerbaijan, France demonstrates that in reality, it is protecting the aggressor and not international law. For the sake of winning the votes of Armenians in elections, French politicians are ready to go against European values, putting personal interests above democracy. The defeat of Armenia in November 2020 was a tangible defeat for France in the South Caucasus, as Paris remained outside the post-war prospects.

The most heated opponents of our country are forced to admit that Azerbaijan, under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, is pursuing a far-sighted foreign policy in difficult geopolitical conditions. In the context of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, which is at the center of the attention of the whole world, both the West and the East consider Azerbaijan as a reliable partner. This is a great diplomatic success for a relatively small state. And although Azerbaijan's balanced foreign policy course irritates some of our "partners", nothing will make us turn off this path.

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