Azerbaijan accuses France of laying ground for new war in South Caucasus
- 22 November, 05:56
Azerbaijan’s diplomatic relations with France continues to spiral down.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday accused France of encouraging separatist and setting a stage for a new conflict in the South Caucasus by providing weapons to Armenia.
"Apart from its former and current colonies, France is also destabilizing our region, the South Caucasus, by supporting separatist tendencies and separatists, providing weapons to Armenia, imposing a military policy, encouraging revanchist forces in Armenia and setting the stage for a new war in our region," Aliyev said in his address, which was read out by his aide Hikmet Hajiyev.
Addressing a conference on "Decolonization: Empowerment and Development of Women” held in Baku, Aliyev said France was carrying out “political intrigues” in various regions taking advantage of its permanent membership of the UN Security Council, “while Western organizations use Paris to put pressure on other countries.”
The conference was organized as part of Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement.
Azerbaijani-French ties that have historically been sour due to Paris’ open pro-Armenian stance, hit another low after France’s weapons deal with Yerevan last month.
France announced the sale of defensive weapons to Armenia in October. French Defence Minister Sebasiten Lecornu announced in a press conference in Yerevan that Armenia would buy three Ground Master 200 radar systems from the French defence group Thales, without providing financial details of the deal. The weapons deal came weeks after Azerbaijan’s recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh after its lightning victory over local separatist Armenian military units.
