US, France endorse peace in South Caucasus Acknowledging Azerbaijan's sovereignty

Washington and Paris support the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the South Caucasus and further regional integration for the benefit of all peoples in the region, a joint statement by the presidents of the United States and France following the talks in Paris said.

There was also something in the statement concerning Georgia. "The United States and France reaffirm their commitment to support the people of Georgia in their Euro-Atlantic aspirations. The presidents call on the ruling Georgian Dream party to respect the wishes of the public and return to the Euro-Atlantic path,“ the statement noted.”

We will not emphasize this point, because we are talking about internal political processes in Georgia. What is of much greater importance to us is what concerns Azerbaijan. And here we see a positive trend. "The United States and France support the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the South Caucasus based on respect for international law and the principles of sovereignty, inviolability of borders and territorial integrity. We support further regional integration in the South Caucasus for the benefit of all peoples of the region,” Biden and Macron said in a joint statement.

This statement clearly indicates how the balance of power in the region is changing in favor of Azerbaijan, how the geopolitical weight of the country is growing, and through it the understanding of the world powers that it is useless to pursue a policy contrary to the just demands of official Baku. Here a special attention should be paid to the fact that in the text of the statement of the US and French presidents there is not a single word about the “right of nations to self-determination”. This was the straw by which Yerevan tried to somehow justify its occupation policy.

Let us recall that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict was started precisely because of the plans of Armenian nationalists to create a second Armenian state on Azerbaijani territories. These plans were called “miatsum”, which means “reunification” in Armenian. Yes, it was a provocative policy, which had to be stopped in its infancy. But in the early 1990s, the US and France chose to act differently. For example, in 1992, when the genocide of the peaceful Azerbaijani population was committed in Khojaly and when Shusha was occupied, the shameful 907th amendment against Azerbaijan was adopted in the US. In addition, for more than two decades the US provided official financial aid to the so-called “people of Nagorno-Karabakh”. This was, let's call things by their proper names, open support for separatism.

Macron's France has gone even further in supporting Armenia's occupation policy. We all remember how actively the President of this country Macron tried to stop the victorious march of the Azerbaijani army during the 44-day war. He was not a stranger to even replicating outright lies against Azerbaijan, for which he never apologized. However, France's anti-Azerbaijani actions did not stop there.

Literally immediately after the end of the 44-day war, the French Senate passed a resolution calling on its government to recognize “Nagorno-Karabakh”. 305 senators voted in favor of the resolution, one opposed it. Yes, the French Foreign Ministry refused to act on the orders of its senators, but Baku remembered and recorded everything. Especially since by that time many French cities had signed twinning agreements with various settlements that were temporarily under Armenian occupation.

What's their real value? Zero. In fact, it was nullified by the results of the 44-day war, but the last nail in the coffin lid of Armenia's and world Armenians' hopes was put in September last year by the results of a one-day anti-terrorist operation in the Karabakh region. Yes, France continued its inertia of waving its fists after the fight. There were attempts to put pressure on official Baku, there were calls to impose sanctions against Azerbaijan for the fact that the country... restored its territorial integrity. But, as we see, France has also faced the inevitability and accepted it. Yes, it continues to arm Armenia and declare its support for official Yerevan. But at the same time, we also see official Paris' forced rejection of many primary postulates.

And now there is nothing in the statement of the presidents of the United States and France that would give cause for joy to those forces in Armenia that still cherish thoughts of revenge. It will never happen. The game is over. Let's say more. Things could have been completely different.

“If Armenia had listened to us back in 2020 and returned our lands peacefully, there would be no need for the Second Karabakh War and the anti-terror operation,” said Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev as he met with a TURKPA delegation in Baku.

And this was the undeniable truth. Official Baku has always proposed based on international law a just and peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

But in Armenia they preferred to live in myths rather than reality. Now they seem to have sobered up. And in the United States and France, they have decided to proceed from the new realities that have emerged in the South Caucasus thanks to the competent, consistent and principled policy of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Undoubtedly, this is a new political reality created by Azerbaijan in the region, a new status quo based on respect for the principle of territorial integrity.

Akbar Hasanov