Paris' political circus: Wasting time on resurrection of dead cause Mission impossible

You’ll laugh, but once again, reports have come from France about the relentless attempts to revive the corpse called “Artsakh.” This time, on February 13, the Paris City Council unanimously adopted a resolution over “the alarming situation of the former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh detained in Azerbaijan”, as reported by the Embassy of Armenia in France. It is specified that at the invitation of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, the Armenian Ambassador to France, Arman Khachatryan, also attended the adoption of the resolution. The resolution mentions Mayor Hidalgo's visits to Armenia and her “unwavering solidarity with the Armenian people,” and it confirms the full support of the Paris City Council for Armenia and the Armenian people. While this may seem like an absurd exercise, the process of pointless time-wasting didn’t end there.

In the aforementioned resolution, referring to the circumstances of the detention of the "former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh, the conditions of their detention in Azerbaijan and the fabricated charges against them," the Paris City Council condemns the "illegal arrest of the former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh and the sham trials and demands their release." That's it. There were no calls to award the "former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh" the Legion of Honour at the Paris City Council. Nor was there a suggestion to send them a basket of croissants in Baku.

But let’s break down this resolution, so to speak, "into molecules." First of all, the alarm should not be raised over the leaders of the Karabakh junta but over the adequacy of the members of the Paris City Council. They are clearly suffering from hallucinations. The reality is that even France, at the state level, never recognized any "Nagorno-Karabakh" during the entire period of occupation of 20% of Azerbaijan's territory. As for the French Senate resolution, it does not reflect the official stance of the country. 

Furthermore, this piece of paper holds no legal weight. There is no "Nagorno-Karabakh"; there is the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. And Armenia, through its Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, has repeatedly recognized the territorial integrity of our country, including Karabakh. At the same time, the presence of the Armenian Ambassador to France at this event puts Nikol Pashinyan in the position of a clown. It is evident that this was no individual initiative, and Arman Khachatryan coordinated his visit with Armenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ararat Mirzoyan. It turns out that while the official Yerevan, on paper, declares its readiness to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan and tries to portray itself as a "dove of peace," in reality, it is engaging in provocative actions, continuing to offer political support to those accused of committing numerous horrific crimes against Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis.

During the trial concerning criminal cases related to crimes against peace and humanity, war crimes, including the conduct of aggressive war, genocide, terrorism, financing of terrorism, illegal seizure of power, and other illegal acts committed against Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani people, it was noted that during the aggressive war, a criminal community, acting under the direct control of and in accordance with the orders, instructions, and directives of the Armenian state, carried out large-scale and systematic attacks with the aim of facilitating the occupation of these territories by Armenia. This was done through the organization of mass expulsions of Azerbaijanis from their rightful places of residence in the villages of Baganis-Ayrim in the Gazakh district, Malibayli-Gushchular in the Shusha district, Garadaghli in the Khojavand district, Bash Guney (Bash Guneypeye) in the Aghdara district, Balligaya and Gulistan in the Goranboy district, Aghdaban, Jomard, and Bashlibel in the Kalbajar district. As a result, a total of 241 people were deliberately killed through shooting, burning alive, and inflicting serious bodily harm. Additionally, there was an attempted murder of 149 people through the infliction of bodily harm of varying degrees of severity.

Notably, Vusal Aliyev, Senior Assistant to the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan, stated that as a result of terrorist crimes committed in 308 episodes between 1988 and 2023, at least 449 people were deliberately killed, including 210 military personnel and 239 civilians. Furthermore, 1,729 people were attempted to be murdered, including 1,013 military personnel and 716 civilians. Additionally, as stated by State Prosecutor Tarana Mammadova, during the 44-day Patriotic War, both movable and immovable property in state and private ownership in the cities of Ganja and Mingachevir, and the districts of Tartar, Aghdam, Barda, Aghjabadi, Fuzuli, Goranboy (Naftalan), Beylagan, Jabrayil, Kurdamir, and Gabala, incurred material damage amounting to more than 187 million manats ($110 million).

It’s clear that the Paris City Council will never adopt a resolution demanding the condemnation of all those responsible for these horrific crimes against Azerbaijan by the Armenian state. After all, France has never condemned the acts of aggression and occupation committed by Armenia against Azerbaijan over the course of 30 years, nor has it expressed a stance on the humanitarian situation that led to nearly 1 million Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, was among those who signed a statement against the organization of COP29 in Azerbaijan. In the end, this piece of paper proved useful only for hygienic purposes — 76,000 registered participants from 197 countries arrived in Baku for COP29. At the same time, Madame Hidalgo embarrassed herself as mayor of the very Paris where the Summer Olympic Games were held last year. Those Games were remembered for numerous scandals and failures, which demonstrated France's inability to properly host such a significant sporting event.

Yes, Paris is still drowning in problems. But instead of solving them, Madame Hidalgo and other members of the Paris City Council decided to spend their time trying to whitewash those accused of committing numerous crimes against Azerbaijan, against the peaceful citizens of our country. This is a classic case of "monkey work." However, nothing else was to be expected from Anne Hidalgo and the members of the Paris City Council. After all, the current political establishment of France has proven that it is driven by a desire to support not so much Armenia as Armenian separatism in the territory of Azerbaijan.