France's two tier society: Islamophobic tendencies
Experts for Caliber.Az

INTERVIEWS  30 June 2023 - 17:46

Despite the unrest on its streets and its long history of colonial policy, France does not hold back from shifting the blame on others and calling out what it sees as unjust in the South Caucasus.

It is ironic that France, which considers itself to be a mediator and an advocate for peace negotiations in the region, is in fact the one playing favourites based on its own selfish interests.

Turkophobic and Islamophobic sentiments have long prevailed in France. These are not empty words but the reality of Macron’s regime as seen through the attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Paris, the recent attack on the employees of Azerbaijan State Television (AzTv) filming in France, injuring journalists, taking away and breaking their equipment, and threatening them with weapons and many more.

The brutal killing of a 17-year-old Algerian teenager, who neither carried a gun nor resisted, by the French police is just another case in France’s neo-colonialism policy.

In a comment to Caliber.Az, British journalist Neil Watson talks about the events unravelling in France, noting that any visitor to Paris quickly realises that France has a two tier society, where the Maghrébine population is discriminated against on a state level and there is little interaction with the mass of the French population.

One would think that such a bigoted attitude towards not a rather large group of the population could result in the decreased reputation of the country’s leader and although in some cases it is true, the British journalist believes that Islamophobia is so ingrained in French society that actually having an Islamophobic stance will help Macron.

“One only needs to note the rise of the Far Right National Rally in the last Presidential election to realise this,” he stated.

It is not a secret that Macron is very open about his pro-Armenian policy and the recent meeting with Armenian nationalists, including Dashnaksutyun (nationalist party Armenian Revolutionary Federation) member Mourad Papazian proves just that.

During the meeting in Marseilles, the French leader underlined his dedication to Armenia, which can’t but make one question the sincerity of the sentiment.

Here, Watson noted that Macron does what he believes benefits him and France.

“So, Islamophobia is acceptable amongst the mass of the French population who exercise their right to vote. The majority of Maghrébins feel disenfranchised and do not vote. Armenians are engrained in French politics, media, and business. Their Turcophobic stance is the received narrative in France, and this includes Azerbaijan,” he stressed.

Numerous anti-Azerbaijani bills have been proposed in the French Senate, although not all have been passed.

“I believe Macron is sincere to his electorate and they are resolutely pro-Armenian,” he finalised.

Separately, former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza reiterated that Macron is pro-Armenian because of the Armenian diaspora in France and the pressure of French politics.

"But I do think that he is sincere in wanting there to be a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia but he is always going to lean a bit more towards Armenia,” Bryza added.

Besides, the diplomat noted that Macron is definitely anti-Turkic, which could also be seen in the summer of 2020 when there were a lot of tensions between Greece and Türkiye.

“As a French national leader he will always be leading more culturally towards Christianity than Islam doesn’t mean that he is Islamophobic but it is just that French politics often place extra weight on Christianity,” he underlined.

However, he also recalled the words of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (20th president of the French Republic), who in the context of the debate whether Türkiye should join the EU said that fundamentally European culture is Christian.

“I would expect Macron comes from a similar mindset,” he summarised.

Caliber.Az