Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s criticism of French President Emmanuel Macron “in no way” changes France’s full commitment to making progress toward peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, October 18.
In comments to French television earlier, Macron said “Azerbaijan launched a terrible war, with many deaths, atrocious scenes and has recaptured the territory” of Karabakh. More recently, “Azerbaijan has launched several offensives along the border (with Armenia). We have condemned them. We will not abandon Armenians.”
Aliyev criticized comments made by Macron and said that the French government has erased Paris’s history of having a friendly and balanced attitude toward Baku.
“It is thanks to the French president that the fourth quadripartite meeting with Charles Michel, President Aliyev, and Prime Minister Pashinyan was arranged on October 6 on the sidelines of the European Political Community’s first summit,” the statement from the Foreign Ministry says.
“This meeting brought us closer to this objective, as reflected in the statement adopted on that occasion. Furthermore, France fully supports the process that is under way with the EU to negotiate a peace treaty between the two countries.”
