France's phobia of Azerbaijan still puts Macron’s government in a bind

France's phobia towards Azerbaijan continues to cause discomfort for Macron's government. For a long time, Paris has been making various accusations against Azerbaijan, and this time, it has openly manifested Azerbaijanophobia in the Legislative Assembly.

Saying that France's target is Azerbaijan might sound like rhetoric, but unfortunately, the main topic on Paris' agenda is precisely to accuse Baku. France believes that both internal tensions and the turbulent period in its foreign relations are due to Azerbaijan's foreign interference. It would be easy to mock this claim, but accepting it as truth would be sheer folly.

Currently, Baku is surprised by these accusations and believes that Macron’s government, facing a period of failure in France, is searching for a scapegoat.

The tension between Azerbaijan and France is primarily based on the situation concerning Armenia. The diplomatic tension that emerged after 2020 led to serious confrontations. France, which has consistently supported Armenia, has gone so far as to risk damaging its bilateral relations with Azerbaijan by being overly critical. This was not well received by Azerbaijan, as Baku could not ignore the fact that, while Europe claimed to be a reliable ally, France showed this kind of behaviour. Azerbaijan has called on both France and European leaders to be sincere and cautioned them to be careful when using terms like "conflict."

Since Azerbaijan secured its territorial integrity, it has faced unjust pressures from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Commission, and France. After the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict ended, European diplomats, under the influence of Armenian lobbies, continued to make baseless accusations, attempting to blame Baku. Hearing anti-Azerbaijan statements from an organization every day has become a habit. Anti-Azerbaijani rhetoric in France has become a core element of state policy. All of this undermines sincere relations between Europe and Azerbaijan, eroding trust between the two sides.

For instance, the recent accusation by a member of the French Legislative Assembly, Sylvain Meylar, who claims Azerbaijan is trying to destabilize France, is nothing more than a blatant lie. France, with a budget exceeding three billion, is shrinking itself so much that this signals the government's leadership is leading such a giant state toward collapse. The French politician claims that Paris supports Yerevan, and for this reason, Azerbaijan is attempting to damage France’s foreign policy.

First of all, France’s support for Armenia is not a new development; this has always existed historically. So, the question arises, why has France never made such an accusation before? Secondly, Azerbaijan has resolved its conflict with Armenia through negotiations, and certain issues are being discussed in the context of peace talks.

In a nutshell, France’s continued support for Armenia should be analyzed as an obstacle to peace, as it can no longer be camouflaged as “support for conflict resolution.” Under current circumstances, this French stance shows that Paris is indeed the party interested in escalating tensions in the South Caucasus.