Expert on France’s meddling in Azerbaijan’s territorial issue: ignoring international law will have consequences

Azerbaijan-Armenia negotiations have stalled at a dead end. The main reason for this is the hypocritical behaviour of the Armenian leadership, which plays a double game with both the West and Russia.

“Yes, what Armenia has been doing is replicating the negotiations it has engaged in with Russia and the West. It is riding two horses intending to only back one horse when it feels that horse will be the best one to save it.” Irish political analyst, historian Patrick Walsh told Azernews in his comment on Pashinyan’s double-crossing the West.

“Essentially Pashinyan aimed to offload the Karabakh issue to Russia but found the Kremlin an unreliable ally. He now aims to "internationalise" the so-called issue of status, meaning the West is used as Yerevan's instrument. The West is willing to play this game for now but sooner or later it will demand Armenia stops dealing with Moscow if it wants Western assistance. Washington is not there to facilitate a peace agreement that strengthens Putin's standing,” expert added.
But the problem does not end there. The Armenian side, not only by itself, but also through its patrons, interferes in the issue of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and tries to harm it. Unfortunately, official Paris expresses opinions and makes decisions based on theses presented by Armenia without carefully considering international laws. First up, the border checkpoint established on the Lachin road is located on the territory of Azerbaijan, and hundreds of Armenian minorities living in Karabakh pass through this checkpoint during the day. But official Paris ignores this and supports separatist forces of Armenia. The political analyst also clarified the reaction of the European Union regarding this biased behavior of France.

“Paris is pro-Armenian and always has been. On the one hand, France is really the dominant influence on EU foreign policy since Britain's exit. Michel and Von Der Leyen are weak leaders and Macron feels that French ascendancy in Europe is imperative. On the other hand, the EU is very much under US hegemony since the war in Ukraine. However, Macron wants to assert any degree of independence the EU has, as a French policy. Paris is indeed dismissive of international law and strongly hypocritical. It fully supports and facilitates military action against separatists in Ukraine whilst simultaneously supporting the same in Karabakh, for political purposes,” Walsh said.

It should be noted that some regrettable issues do not end with Armenia. Although Armenia is a very small country in terms of territory, economy, and population, it is given excessive aid, and even its whims are ignored in many cases. And to recall, the USA recently imposed an embargo on 20 Armenian companies related to illegal trade with Russia. This is just the business side of the matter. However, such an irresponsible action of a state like Armenia is still ignored. Although Azerbaijan is the most reliable economic partner for Europe, the West shows insensitive behavior in such delicate issues. According to Irish expert Patrick Walsh, Armenia is still useful to some superpowers in a certain sense.

“This must both perplex and frustrate Azerbaijanis. But it is no different than before the 2020 war. International Law is unfortunately not applied as law should be. It is applied selectively according to the political interests of the Great Powers. It is no doubt, useful in a moral sense since while it can be frustrated these Powers will find it difficult to act fully against it. But I'm afraid this issue will in the end be settled by force, as it was in 2020. This fact, which those in the West who do not insist in the application of international law now, ignore will have consequences. If the issue is settled by force it will have to be settled in conjunction with the Power that is more amenable to this through high level behind the scenes bargaining. And that is not the West. So by supporting Armenian obstructionism the West is handing the process over to its opponent in Moscow,” he pointed.