BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 6. The declaration was adopted, following the results of the round table, convened on the initiative of the Center for the Analysis of International Relations (AIR Centre) on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Coordination Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement of which Azerbaijan holds the presidency, Trend reports.
Following the meeting, the participants agreed to create Baku Initiative Group against French colonialism.
"Since the Non-Aligned Movement is a global platform for the fight against colonialism, it has become necessary to be able to engage new perspectives of work in order to support the peoples in struggle under French colonial domination, in particular on the basis of the fundamental principles of NAM.
The independentists and nationalists of Martinique, Guyana, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, Solomon Islands, as well as the representatives from the Republic of Azerbaijan and the French Republic reaffirmed and stressed the validity and relevance of the Movement's principled positions concerning the fight against colonial and neo-colonial practices," the declaration says.
The participants were also able to present an overview of the colonial situations in the overseas territories of France, and agreed to structure their solidarity network in their fights for justice and freedom.
Meanwhile, speaking at the ministerial meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement yesterday, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said that one of the countries that still is pursuing the neo-colonialism is France.
“French administered territories outside Europe are nasty remains of the French colonial empire. France must respect the sovereignty of the Comoros over the island of Mayotte as well as the rights of the New Caledonian people and other peoples in French overseas communities and territories,” President Ilham Aliyev said.
President Ilham Aliyev pointed out that France has to apologize for its colonial past and bloody colonial crimes and acts of genocide against NAM member countries in Africa, South-East Asia and other places.