BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 14. Azerbaijan pursues an open policy in relations with all countries and has the right to expect the same position from other countries, Head of the Azerbaijan-France Inter-Parliamentary Relations Working Group Soltan Mammadov told Trend.
According to Mammadov, one of the main reasons for the mistrust of the Azerbaijani society towards France is some of the nuances of this country's policy towards the region.
He stressed that after the 2020 second Karabakh war new opportunities appeared to ensure peace in the South Caucasus, but some steps taken by France hinder this process.
Commenting on the recent statement of French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna in the National Assembly [in which she expressed solidarity with Armenian people and made completely unfounded calls against Azerbaijan], the head of the working group said that such statements only aggravate the situation in the region.
Mammadov noted that the Azerbaijani side has repeatedly called on France to be impartial in its policy towards the South Caucasus and, especially, in its approach to the process of normalizing Azerbaijani-Armenian relations.
"At various meetings, we brought to the attention of our French colleagues the issues concerning Azerbaijan. We have always taken the position that damaging relations and weakening mutual trust are unacceptable, but, unfortunately, France hasn’t changed neither its policy, nor its approach,” he said. “It more protects the interests of Armenia. This, of course, raises certain questions regarding how effective can be France's participation in the process of normalizing relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”
The MP emphasized that by putting forward various initiatives, France is trying to take on the role of a key player in the processes in the region, and also to mediate in the negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The working group’s head pointed out that many of the steps taken by France over the past period, as well as its current policy, raise doubts that it can be an impartial mediator.
"The Azerbaijani society doesn’t support the participation of France as a mediator. We witnessed the indifference of this country, which for 30 years was a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, to the fact of the occupation of Azerbaijani lands,” Mammadov reminded.
“The facts related to terror and genocide, aggression against Azerbaijan, weren’t seriously condemned by France. Therefore, France's attempts to stir up issues which are no longer on the agenda, and to carry out a mediation mission in the negotiation process are useless," he concluded.