BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 15. Some French politicians have totally irrational, unbalanced position on Azerbaijan-Armenia issue, French Senator Nathalie Goulet said in an exclusive interview with Trend, as she is attending the XI Global Baku Forum.
“Knowing Azerbaijan for such a long time, I understand that the country is angry and also very disappointed with the French position. But I have to explain that, first of all, we have a very strong Armenian lobby everywhere. The storytelling of Armenian lobby right now is very strong. First of all, most part of the people completely forgot the first Karabakh war. They have absolutely no idea that Armenia occupied Azerbaijan’s territories and Azerbaijan, over the last 30 years, had to deal with one million IDPs and refugees coming from those territories to Baku and the other areas because of the Armenian occupation. They completely forgot this part,” she said.
At the same time, as Goulet said, the Minsk Group, which was created to solve the issue of occupation, was a total failure because of a lack of leadership, because Russia, France or the United States absolutely had no interest to solve the problem.
“We were facing the lack of governance in the Minsk Group. There was a need to remind that the Minsk Group was created because of occupation. This part of the history was erased from the memory of some people. That is one point. The second point is that amid the global atmosphere after the 9/11 attacks, the national and territorial conflicts shifted into religious conflicts, and there was a perception of “good Christian Armenia against the bad Turkish”. Most part of the politicians in France think that Azerbaijan may have the project to erase Armenia from the map. All these kinds of things are totally irrational, but at the same time it works. It becomes difficult for friends of Azerbaijan to express themselves. They have a kind of self-censorship, because suddenly they are regarded as the ones paid by Azerbaijan, as foreign agents for a foreign country. Then it becomes very difficult to be the only one to try to argue,” noted the senator.
She pointed out that no way Azerbaijan has the intention to erase Armenia.
“I don't think so. This kind of approach is totally irrational and unbalanced. Most part of the French, maybe 99 percent, completely forgot the first Karabakh war and the history and completely match their rhetoric to the Armenian lyric. And then the realities throughout the world gives them some reason to be scared. I think that this negative atmosphere in our relations has definitely to slow down. Our French ambassador here is working hard. I try to explain as much as I can, but for some French people, I'm not credible at all. Nobody wants to listen to me.
You saw the recent voting in the French Senate. There was one vote against and some abstentions, but nobody dare. I would like also my colleagues to understand the situation. I have no intention to give up. But from time to time, I have a sense of self-censorship to express myself, because it becomes weird to be the only one in the middle of a sea of hostility. And you try to express a different position. But it's my strong conviction and I will not move away from it. As everybody knows, I don't eat caviar. So, the caviar diplomacy is not for me, as it's strongly forbidden by my religion. They have to give me a break with the caviar diplomacy. It's very challenging to be a French in Baku today. It's easy to be Nathalie Goulet, but not very easy to be a French in Baku,” Goulet noted.
The French senator noted that during a certain period, the bilateral relationship was at the highest level.
“I was with the president of France all along when he traveled to Azerbaijan. We had a lot of hope. And at the same time, nothing moved in the Minsk Group. I can feel the disappointment that now all this work which has been built is totally destroyed. And what hurts me, it's an unbalanced situation. Let's say, you are a French senator and you strongly believe that you have to protect the Christians in the Middle East. But you have to get a balanced situation, and you have not to forget the first war and occupation. What I try to do is to balance, saying it's not black and white,” added Goulet.
Touching upon the act of vandalism against Azerbaijani poetess Natavan’s monument in France, Goulet noted that the mayor of Evian wrote a very nice letter to the Azerbaijani ambassador Leyla Abdullayeva, noting that he has started proceedings to find the people responsible and will fully restore the statue.
“These things were out of the hands of the mayor of Evian. It was the isolated action of some crazy people. There was absolutely no clue of the reality. But the mayor wrote to the embassy to apologize,” she explained.
Peace building between Azerbaijan and Armenia
“President Ilham Aliyev said in his speech at the Global Baku Forum that Azerbaijan and Armenia are close to peace than ever before. I believe it and hope so. At the same time, it’s very difficult, because we are used to it. I think that both countries have to deal themselves with their global interests without any interference of any foreigners, and especially get rid of the lobby everywhere. We have to let the Azerbaijanis and Armenians together to solve this issue and not put oil on the fire,” she said.
Goulet believes that the direct contact is the best way.
“But for direct contact, we need to restore trust and that is very important. At the same time, how can we trust the Russians now? How can we trust Americans in the middle of the election? And how can we trust somehow the French? It's important to be back to basics. I mean, those three countries were leading the Minsk Group to solve the problem and didn't do any single thing for 30 years. How can we trust them? But direct contact will work only if trust is back. I think that peace is on the way. I hope that next time we will have an Armenian speaker in the global forum. Why not?” she added.
Multiculturalism in Azerbaijan
“Two days ago, when we were walking with some friends in the Old City, we heard music in one of the places. I tried to get in, but a bodyguard said it's forbidden. He noted that a Jewish community is having a celebration there. After 10 minutes, they called the chief rabbi, who said that local Jews, including Bukharan Jews have a meeting there. There was only one bodyguard in front of the door and that's it. There is no way we can have a Jewish meeting like that in Paris right now, without 10 cars of policemen,” she said.
Goulet noted that Azerbaijan is a safe place for Jews abroad.
“You have music and food during Ramadan, you have secularism in this country. People have to ban their stereotypes, which are really a shame and they have to see the country. We can’t say that everything is good, but I think that people have to try to balance their position and stop with the Azerbaijanophobia. It hurts me,” the senator said.
Importance of the Global Baku Forum
“First, it's an opportunity to meet a lot of people, and sometimes very old friends. I saw the lady who was the ambassador of Bahrain in Paris 20 years ago, and it was very pleasant.
I also met with former Turkish minister for the European Union Affairs Volkan Bozkir, whom I haven't seen for ages. When he was the minister, I had the pleasure to help him to meet some colleagues in the Senate 14 years ago. I was surprised enough, when I saw that he kept a picture of us in his phone after so many years. That is one thing. The other thing is that we are in a terrible world. People are not talking to each other, they prefer to fight,” noted Goulet.
The senator pointed out that there is a big area of progress in this matter, to bring the people back to the table and dialogue instead of fighting.
“And the forum is an opportunity to discuss some issues. I'm not sure that the Global Forum will bring any solution, but at least people are talking to each other. When it comes to the war in Ukraine, it's very important to solve this issue. But right now, we have to bring back the Israeli hostages from Gaza and of course, get a ceasefire. Getting hostages back is a very important issue for me and for a lot of us. It's very difficult to solve the problem. I'm wearing my necklace with inscription “bring the hostages back”, and I strongly support it,” she added.
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