Baku to send note of protest to French MFA
The Azerbaijani Embassy in France will send the protest note to the French Foreign Ministry, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend on April 4.
The Azerbaijani Embassy in France will send the protest note to the French Foreign Ministry, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend on April 4.
The note of protest will be sent in connection with the visit of Ashot Gulyan, who presents himself as a representative of the illegal regime created by the Armenian armed forces in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, to France, which is one of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries.
“We regret to note that although the entry of Gulyan, the resident of Azerbaijan’s Khankendi city using the diplomatic passport of Armenia, into the territory of the EU countries, violates the agreement on simplification of the visa regime and readmission between Armenia and the EU, the French side has taken no measures to prevent this visit,” Hajiyev said.
The spokesman added that the systematic nature of such visits and the turning of the territory of France into a place of propaganda for the illegal regime raises a question about France’s impartiality as a co-chair country and calls into question its credibility and reliability at the international level and in the Azerbaijani public.
“The general code of the French self-government bodies, as well as the letter dated July 2, 2015 of the Foreign Ministry and the Interior Ministry sent to the plenipotentiary representatives of the government, read that all international relations of local self-government bodies must comply with international obligations undertaken by France, and local self-government bodies are not authorized to sign any agreement with one or another structure not recognized by the French government,” Hajiyev noted.
He added that the central government of France has recently demonstrated a tough position when the questions in connection with Corsica arose, but the creation by France of an opportunity to encourage the illegal separatist regime created in the occupied Azerbaijani territories on its territory is regarded as another example of double standards.
The spokesman said that Azerbaijan calls upon France, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to comply with its obligations, norms and principles of international law and suppress such actions directed against Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“From now on, the Azerbaijani side will proceed from the principle of reciprocity in relations with France,” Hajiyev mentioned.
Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.
Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
Unfortunately, peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. within the OSCE Minsk Group have produced no tangible results so far due to Armenia's unconstructive position on the issue.