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For Armenian PM presence of unconditional supporter such as President Macron is way to feel stronger - French journalist

Politics Materials 30 November 2022 11:35 (UTC +04:00)
For Armenian PM presence of unconditional supporter such as President Macron is way to feel stronger - French journalist

BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 30. Jean-Michel Brun, Executive Director of Trend News Agency's Lagazetteaz.fr newspaper, has published an article dedicated to the canceled meeting of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan that was scheduled on December 7 in Brussels, Trend reports.

It is mentioned in the article that since Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan demanded the participation of France's President Emmanuel Macron in the meeting in Brussels, President Ilham Aliyev canceled the meeting.

"Assistant to President Ilham Aliyev, Hikmet Hajiyev, was contacted from Charles Michel's office, President of the European Council. He was informed that Armenia's prime minister will agree to the meeting only if French President Emmanuel Macron also participates. Why is it necessary to have the participation of Emmanuel Macron, who deliberately and without explanation has taken the side of Armenian nationalists and is the co-chairman of the former OSCE Minsk Group, which has lost its legitimacy as an arbitrator?" wrote the French journalist.

"Perhaps a reason could be stated as the fact that for Pashinyan, who is weakened due to his country's defeat on the battlefield, the presence of an unconditional supporter such as Emmanuel Macron is kind of a way to feel stronger. However, Armenia's prime minister should be cautious," he added.

According to Brun, Pashinyan is not really confident that the support of France's president is sincere. As a reason, he mentioned the fact that Emmanuel Macron expressed the desire to personally attend the annual dinner of the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations in France, the Chairman of which is Murad Papazyan, who is prohibited from entering Armenia. During the meeting, Macron once more stated that "France will always stand with Armenia".

The author noted that France has been exaggerating the "Armenian issue" since the last presidential election and that the only reason former French presidential candidates Eric Zemmour and Valérie Pécresse visited Yerevan was to gather the voices of 700,000-800,000 French Armenians.

"This also strengthens their image as "defenders of 'Christian' country in the middle of 'Islamic' ocean," as Eric Zemmour put it. This explains Emannuel Macron's fondness for Armenia, who decided to catch the fish in the same water as the ultra-right French "Republicans"," added Brun.

The author noted that for President Ilham Aliyev, the condition of Pashinyan to involve the French president in the meeting is unacceptable.

"And this means that there will be no meeting," wrote the French journalist, citing the statement made by President Ilham Aliyev at the international conference "Along the Middle Corridor: Geopolitics, Security, and Economy", which was held on November 25 at ADA University.

The article also mentions Macron's anti-Azerbaijani statements on French television on October 9 of this year in connection with the second Karabakh war, which forces Azerbaijan to reconsider France's efforts in the peace process.

Brun also noted that Nikol Pashinyan could not be unaware of the reaction of Azerbaijan and knew that the cancellation of the meeting would please only Russia, Armenia's long-time ally. Russia indeed could not accept the negotiations without its participation in the region, which it considers its own, believing that the West tried to gain a foothold in the region by taking advantage of the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation. In addition, the prospect of Russian mediation is unlikely to appeal to Macron, the article notes.

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