Azerbaijani speaker accuses France of hindering Azerbaijan-Armenia normalisation

Chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliament Sahiba Gafarova has criticised the one-sided and biased stance of France on the situation in the South Caucasus.

In a meeting with the Chairman of the French National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet in the Irish capital of Dublin on September 28, Gafarova said such an approach by Paris is not at all conducive to efforts to establish lasting peace in our region, writes Report.

Speaker Gafarova recalled many statements and resolutions adopted by both houses of the French Parliament which negatively affected the normalisation between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the peace process as a whole.

According to her, these documents contradicted international legal principles, while at the same time demonstrating a dubious approach to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. In fact, all these steps supported separatism on the Azerbaijani territory and, through empty temptations, emboldened the revanchist forces in Armenia.

Gafarova also recalled Yaël Braun-Pivet’s trip to Armenia in 2023, noting that if the French speaker visited Azerbaijan, too, after her trip to Armenia, she would have a good opportunity to get acquainted with the Azerbaijani point of view.

The Azerbaijani parliament's speaker highlighted also the fact that during 30 years of the Armenian occupation of the Azerbaijani lands, Baku has not seen a case where France condemned the occupation, the destruction of the Azerbaijani cities and villages, as well as historical and cultural monuments by Armenia in the occupied territories.

Gafarova said the French side never spoke about the rights of about a million Azerbaijanis who faced the Armenian policy of ethnic cleansing and became refugees from Armenia and internally displaced persons from Garabagh.