Baku accuses Paris of being “biased in favor of Armenia”.

Yesterday, Eliza Marten, a member of the French National Assembly, sent a written question to the country’s foreign policy department, recalling the official Paris statements and wondering what steps the French diplomacy is going to take to protect the rights of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, in particular, the right of return, to achieve the release of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan, and to preserve the Armenian cultural and religious heritage.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, published on the official website of the French Parliament on June 23, “the baseless answers testify to the biased approach they have been showing for a long time towards the process of normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”

Baku claims that although the French side presents itself as a supporter of the peace process, Paris’ emphasis on defense cooperation with Armenia and support for the European Union’s observation mission “prove that France is far from neutral in the region.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan also confirms the expansion of military cooperation between France and Armenia, claiming that such steps “encourage revanchist sentiments and harm the process of normalization of relations”.

According to Aykhan Hajizadeh, spokesperson of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, this “proves once again that Paris still has a hard time accepting the new realities of the region and instead of contributing to the strengthening of peace in the South Caucasus, continues to be guided by outdated and one-sided political approaches.”

“This seriously harms both France’s reputation in the region and its image as a reliable partner,” Hajizadeh insisted.