"Debts must be repaid" - Expert on Azerbaijan-France relations
Azerbaijan-France relations
These days in Baku, the “Congress of Independence Movements from France-Colonized Territories” is taking place. The event is attended by leaders of more than 15 political parties and movements advocating for independence of overseas French territories such as Corsica, Melanesia, Polynesia, and groups of Caribbean and Antillean islands.
According to Azerbaijani political analyst Haji Namazov, the coordination of efforts by representatives of France’s overseas territories is “a kind of response from official Baku to Paris’s actions over the past few years.”
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The Azerbaijani edition of JAMnews contacted political scientist Haji Namazov for a comment on the holding of the “Congress of Independence Movements from France-Colonized Territories” in Baku.
Why Baku and Paris are at odds?
The relations between Azerbaijan and France are on the brink of diplomatic rupture, although both sides are not yet considering such a radical step. Recently, the French Ambassador to Baku was summoned to Paris for consultations but returned to resume her duties after some time.
There are clear reasons why Baku and Paris are not getting along.
Even before 2020, when Azerbaijan partially reclaimed its occupied territories as a result of the Second Karabakh War, France officially supported the separatist regime in Karabakh. After the war, this support became even more apparent, notably by Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris.
Ignoring various statements from Paris about supporting the “independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,” one can point out specific examples of irresponsible behavior by Hidalgo in recent years. By “irresponsible,” I mean her actions that go against all norms of international law.
Anne Hidalgo and Karabakh
In early 2022, when the illegal separatist regime in Khankendi (Stepanakert) was still in place, Hidalgo announced a visit to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. However, official Baku sharply stated that it would not allow any foreign official to visit its sovereign territories. Left with no choice, the Mayor of Paris proceeded to meet with Araik Arutyunyan (currently held in a Baku prison), in Goris, Armenia.
After Azerbaijan established checkpoints in the Lachin district in April 2023, Hidalgo decided to test fate again by sending a dozen trucks with humanitarian aid to Khankendi, again through Armenian territory. The fate of this convoy was known even before it left Yerevan, and after several days of waiting at the Azerbaijan border, the trucks, accompanied personally by the Mayor of Paris, returned to where they came from.
Such actions by the mayor of a state capital clearly cannot be undertaken without coordination with the country’s top leadership.
“Debts must be repaid”
“After Azerbaijan fully resolved its territorial integrity issue, France decided to arm Armenia. Certainly, every country has the right to arm itself and choose any foreign state as its partner. But Baku’s position on this matter is crystal clear: Armenia occupied a vast territory of its neighboring state for three decades, and arming such a country cannot go unquestioned.
Of course, Baku hasn’t forgotten everything I’ve already mentioned. As they say, debts must be repaid.
France is far from being an innocent lamb; its history is filled with facts of occupying foreign territories and colonizing entire peoples. Thus, Azerbaijan being a platform for the congress of political parties from overseas territories fighting for independence from France is more than logical.
Official Baku even has an ironclad argument—Azerbaijan was a chair of the Non-Aligned Movement for a long period, and the Baku Initiative Group, consisting of representatives from France’s overseas territories, was created at that time. Everyone remembers the OSCE Minsk Group for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which hasn’t particularly distinguished itself over 28 years. This group did not hold meetings in Minsk; it was created there, hence the name. The name ‘Baku Initiative Group’ is from the same playbook.
The coordination of efforts among representatives of France’s overseas territories is a kind of response from official Baku to Paris’s actions over the past few years.”
