From Macron to AFP: Anti-Azerbaijani frenzy grips France Smear campaign with Armenian smell

The massive smear campaign against Azerbaijan in the West continues. It is difficult to even count how many Western media have not hesitated to join the squad of those who push Armenian propaganda. With no regard for the principles of objective journalism, the "fighters" of this squad are working on a clearly defined task: the defamation of Azerbaijan.

This is done through stories about the suffering of Armenians living illegally in our occupied territories for three decades. They are trying to make the reader feel sorry for Armenia and Armenians. This is a classic example of shifting the blame from the perpetrator to the victim of the crime. However, this is what many politicians in the West have done throughout the years we've been occupied. And it's not surprising that we see France again leading the anti-Azerbaijani campaign, this time not only politically but also informational. AFP has decided to endorse the provocations of French politicians, from the President of the 5th Republic, Emmanuel Macron, to the mayors of various French cities, who have been making statements against Azerbaijan.

AFP's very title is provocative. "Karabakh Armenians do not believe in peace with Azerbaijan" is the title of the piece published on the website of the world's oldest news agency. The provocation lies in the fact that it doesn't say that Armenians used to live in Karabakh illegally. Incidentally, this clarification does not appear in the article itself. Although Armenians lived on Azerbaijani territory, they held Armenian passports. However, it was the government of Armenia, the country that occupied 20 per cent of the territory of Azerbaijan, in violation of international law and the resolutions of the UN Security Council, where the demand for the withdrawal of all illegal Armenian armed formations from the territories of our state was clearly stated. The reader would have had a more objective view of the events if AFP had mentioned this. But the French media have chosen the path of the manipulation of the facts.

"Before fleeing the advancing Azerbaijani troops into Armenia, Suren Martirosyan looked back at his orchard in Nagorno-Karabakh for the last time, and that fleeting vision has haunted him ever since," writes AFP. An uninitiated French reader might conclude from these lines that the Azerbaijani army is not liberating its land, but expelling the "poor" Armenians.

The article talks about the Armenians who "fled Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan recaptured the disputed region in a lightning offensive in September". A disputed region? Lies and nonsense. The whole world recognises Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory. Today, the Azerbaijani flag flies over Khankendi and the entire Karabakh region, and the former leaders of the Karabakh junta are under investigation.

Moreover, the seemingly solid media with long and glorious traditions somehow "forgot" that Armenia, through Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and NA Speaker Alen Simonyan, has recognised the territorial integrity of our country, including Karabakh. So the lines about "disputed territories" are lies and provocations. However, the whole article is like that. Here, for example, is another extract from it. "Suren blamed Russian peacekeepers and the Armenian government for the fall of the breakaway republic saying that 'our army fought bravely in defence of our homeland, it was Russia and the Armenian government that were defeated in Karabakh'."

It's not hard to guess who the next Surens, Ashots and Gurgens will blame. Anyone but themselves, illegally on the territory of a foreign state. But the fact that the speeches of these Armenians are reproduced by AFP is another matter. So is the fact that AFP is trying to glorify the Armenian occupation army and Armenian gangs. This is all part of a big information campaign against our country. It is the result of France's anti-Azerbaijani policy.

However, in light of all this, we cannot but take note of the verdict on French journalism. Yes, French media publications are openly one-sided, biased, and pro-Armenian. The Azerbaijanis who were expelled from Armenia more than thirty years ago do not appear in AFP. But they too dream of a return to the land of their ancestors, to see the houses they once lived in. And I would like to point out that no one in Armenia has given them any guarantees of safety and respect for all of their rights. Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani leadership has repeatedly guaranteed all Armenians who are willing to live in Karabakh under the laws of our state to respect all their rights. But AFP said nothing about this either.