Baku and Yerevan quarrel over France's policy

The Armenian Foreign Ministry has expressed indignation over Baku's reaction to military-technical co-operation between Armenia and France.

"Every country has the sovereign right to have an army equipped with combat and modern military equipment. The Republic of Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity and inviolability of the borders of all its neighbors.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed at the highest level that they recognize each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty on the basis of the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration. The Republic of Armenia is committed to this principle and has no claims outside its internationally recognized territory of 29,743 square kilometers," the statement said.

Armenia has proved this in practice by demarcating the border around four villages in the Gazakh region of Azerbaijan." We call on Azerbaijan to end its occupation of the vital territories of more than 30 villages of the Republic of Armenia."

Azerbaijan's actions make one think and confirm the analysis of a number of centers that Azerbaijan will do everything possible to disrupt the process of signing a peace agreement with Armenia after the COP29 summit and launch a new aggression against Armenia, the statement reads.

Official Yerevan reacted so strongly to Baku's accusations of Armenia's purchase of CAESAR howitzers.

Thus, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry on 18 June accused France of provocative activities in the South Caucasus "despite the warning of the Azerbaijani side".

"Equipping Armenia with lethal weapons under the current military deal is yet another manifestation of hypocrisy of the French leadership. Macron's regime, pursuing a policy of militarization and geopolitical intrigues in the South Caucasus region, is preventing the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and ensuring a stable peace in the region," the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

"All responsibility for the aggravation of the situation in the South Caucasus region and the emergence of a new hotbed of war will be borne by the Armenian leadership pursuing a revanchist policy and Macron's dictatorship," the Defense Ministry added.

Note that on 19 June, the accusations against Paris were repeated by the head of state's foreign policy aide Hikmet Hajiyev. He called France's policy in the South Caucasus "harmful", which threatens the stability of the region, strikes a blow to the normalization process and encourages revanchist forces in Armenia.