Milli Majlis deputies do not consider French gendarmes as threat to Azerbaijani army

Baku/10.02.23/Turan: On January 23, the EU Foreign Ministers approved the creation of a civilian mission in Armenia to help stabilize the border areas, strengthen trust and normalize relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The mission provides for the service of 100 observers. Yerevan has agreed with President Macron to include a contingent of gendarmes in the mission.

The EU mission in Armenia will start operating on February 20, it will include 8 gendarmes from France, French MEP Natalie Loiseau told CivilNet.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry does not comment on the expected appearance of French gendarmes in Armenia, near the border with Azerbaijan.

Milli Majlis deputy Rasim Musabekov, in an interview with Turan, called 8 French gendarmes as part of the EU mission "zero and a stick."

"Suppose, along with each observer from France, there will be three assistants. So what? From a military point of view, they do not pose a threat to Azerbaijan. And the arguments published by the Armenian press about the possibility of the French military base following the gendarmes in Armenia are complete nonsense. France does not have transport communications to Armenia to maintain a military base in this country. The appearance of observers The EU in Armenia is a problem in Armenian-Russian relations, let the Armenians think how they will deal with it," added political analyst Rasim Musabekov.

Milli Majlis deputy Arzu Nagiyev told Turan that from the very beginning it was clear that the EU mission was unambiguously composed not only of civilians and politicians.

"There will be scouts among them, as the main mission of the observers is to visually study the territory of Azerbaijan with a report to their government. This is how the gendarmes' mission was seen in France. 

The Azerbaijani side is ready for this. The arrival of these observers to the region, to the border is a factor of undermining peace, harming the establishment of stability, because the mission's goal is one-sided, to satisfy the intelligence interests of Armenia. 

From a military point of view, the participation of gendarmes is not a threat to the borders of Azerbaijan," said Arzu Nagiyev, deputy of the Milli Majlis and Deputy Director General of the Trend International Information Agency.

MP from the ruling "Yeni Azerbaijan" Party Aydin Mirzazade advised Armenians to sort out their policy, which resulted in the deployment of the 102nd military base of the Russian Federation, Russian border guards, and now European observers and military from France in Armenia.

"Let them sort themselves out in Armenia, understand what they want: to be a member of the CSTO or to bring a third force to the region to use against Azerbaijan. The EU mission and the French gendarmes in Armenia are not a danger to us, Yerevan can do whatever it wants on its territory. But they must understand that such actions interfere with the peace process. Baku has submitted proposals to Yerevan on concluding a peace treaty, and is waiting for a response. 

Yerevan will answer to the world community for the involvement of a third country into the region, with the prospect of creating a French military base in Armenia for a new threat to Azerbaijan. This is not the first attempt by Armenians to attract third forces against Azerbaijan, and it has always failed. It will be the same this time," MP Aydin Mirzazade told Turan.

Russia has already declared its rejection of the invitation of the European mission to Armenia.

"There are no grounds for bringing an extra-regional factor to the South Caucasus. But this is exactly what the EU is doing, and it is doing it very clumsily, without coordinating with Azerbaijan... Such actions are aimed at ousting Russia from the process of Azerbaijani-Armenian normalization. Do not be deceived by the term "civilian mission". You said yourself that there is reason to assume that it will not be entirely civilian... The probability of its growing into a kind of presence with possible military components, the probability that the mission will begin to look into the territory of Karabakh, which would be a violation of the mandate, makes us say that there are risks. If attempts are made to expand the presence of the mission to the territory of Karabakh, they may lead to problems for Russian peacekeepers and border guards. 

Problems of this kind are a security risk in the entire region, in the entire South Caucasus," Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail Bocharnikov said in an interview haqqin.az .

"Regional problems should be solved with the participation of the countries of the region. Despite the fact that other countries can contribute to ensuring peace and security in the region. Peace can be ensured through solving problems with the participation of the countries of the region, through dialogue and discussions only," Iranian Ambassador to Armenia Abbas Badakhshan Zohuri told Armenian journalists.-0-