Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry reacts to recall of French Ambassador

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has rejected accusations of official Paris about unilateral actions of Baku damaging bilateral relations, due to which the French Ambassador was recalled.

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry official spokesman Aykhan Hajizadeh stated that France has been mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict for about 25 years with Baku's consent, but after the 2020 war, Paris took openly anti-Azerbaijani steps.

Given this, the Azerbaijan's steps and statements were a logical response to France's destructive activities.

Recall that France's steps in the last 3.5 years seriously undermine the efforts to normalize relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, and contribute to the escalation.

France has repeatedly initiated documents against Azerbaijan in the UN Security Council and the European Union, the Francophonie organizations and other international structures. All this confirms the groundlessness of claims that this country is an impartial mediator, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said. It was at the initiative of representatives of the ruling party of France that numerous decisions and resolutions were adopted in the parliament of this country, containing unfounded accusations, insults and threats against Azerbaijan, questioning the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, recognizing the former separatist regime in Karabakh.

After the 2020 war, as a result of the Azerbaijanophobic environment fuelled in France, attacks on the Azerbaijani Embassy were repeatedly initiated, the building of the diplomatic mission was damaged and the monument to Azerbaijani poetess Khurshid Banu Natavan was vandalized. The French government's failure to prevent these steps is an integral part of France's anti-Azerbaijani campaign.

Hajizadeh's commentary also points to France's unjustified attacks on Azerbaijan due to its chairmanship of the upcoming COP29 climate conference.

At the same time, France's large-scale arming of Armenia and Paris' encouragement of its militarization do not contribute to peace in the region.

Added to this can be that Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that France's attempts to talk to Baku in the language of threats and pressure will have no results and Baku will take all necessary measures to protect its national interests, Hajizadeh summarized.