Azerbaijani FM: Macron repeatedly threatened Azerbaijan during 44-day war

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has revealed new details about the diplomatic pressures Azerbaijan faced during the 44-day Patriotic War, including threats from French President Emmanuel Macron.

Speaking on the programme Təmas xətti (“Line of Contact”) on Public Television, Bayramov said that as Azerbaijan’s military successes grew, international pressure intensified, with Macron repeatedly calling and warning the Azerbaijani leadership.

“The President of France said, ‘You must stop immediately.’ He implied that if this did not happen, France would recognise ‘Nagorno-Karabakh’. The President of Azerbaijan immediately responded, emphasising that France could do so, but it would change nothing for us. He added that Azerbaijan would immediately sever all diplomatic relations with France if necessary,” Bayramov recounted.

The minister also highlighted the critical support Azerbaijan received from Türkiye during the conflict. According to Bayramov, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan maintained regular contact with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, while then-Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu visited Azerbaijan five times during the war. Turkish embassies were instructed to fulfil any requests from Azerbaijan without delay, a move Bayramov described as “very significant.”

Bayramov further addressed the presence of Turkish F-16 fighter jets in Azerbaijan at the time, clarifying that the aircraft were not involved in operations and were on the ground for exercises. “However, if necessary, they could have been seen in the sky,” he added.

The foreign minister also discussed the early ceasefire proposals mediated by Russia. On 9 October 2020, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov presented a plan calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities along the line of contact, with Russian peacekeepers deployed alongside Azerbaijani and Armenian forces. Bayramov noted that accepting Moscow’s plan at that stage would have frozen the conflict, preventing the liberation of Azerbaijani territories.

Regarding the Trilateral Statement signed by Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia on the night of 9–10 November 2020, Bayramov stressed that Azerbaijan had insisted on strict provisions, including deadlines for the withdrawal of Armenian forces from Lachin, Kalbajar, and Aghdam, the temporary nature of the agreement, and the synchronised execution of peacekeeper deployment and withdrawal of Armenian troops.

“The word ‘Armenian’ was deliberately used so that later they could not play with words. On this basis, we later proved convincingly that they violated the Trilateral Statement,” Bayramov said. He added that the agreement was crucial to avoiding civilian casualties, limiting losses, and preventing potentially dangerous accusations on the international stage.

“Without it, we could have faced completely different scenarios. For example, Kalbajar and Lachin could have been defended directly from Armenian territory, as they are border regions, and civilians could have been harmed during their liberation. Armenia is a member of the CSTO. If we had liberated these territories by force, we would have suffered significant losses. And if we had not agreed to the deployment of peacekeepers, we could have faced extremely dangerous accusations on the international stage. At that time, the Trilateral Statement was the best solution,” Bayramov concluded.

By Vugar Khalilov