Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend E.Huseynli / Immortalization of an Armenian terrorist in France harms this country's public rating, Azay Guliyev, a member of the Azerbaijan-France inter-parliamentary friendship group, said in an interview with Trend.
France, a chairing country at the OSCE Minsk Group, must not eternalize the separatist's name. With respect to eternalize Monte Melkonian, who participated in the occupation of Azerbaijani lands, a ceremony for the opening of a memory plaque on his house was held in the French city Klamar on 10 November. Arriving in Nagorno-Karabakh [the Azerbaijani region under Armenian occupation] in 1991 Melkonian, from California St, USA, fought in the battles against Azerbaijan. On 12 June 1993 he was killed in a battle in the district of Agdam, Azerbaijan. Guliyev said that France as a country, mediating in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, should not support separatists.
According to Guliyev, such a position weakens public confidence towards France and mocks all hopes for Paris. Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time active hostilities ended. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.