By Trend

France's desire to mediate between Azerbaijan and Armenia at any cost is directed against the important steps taken within the Brussels format, which took place as a result of the serious efforts of the European Council President Charles Michel, Azerbaijani political expert Elchin Mirzabayli told Trend on October 13.

According to Mirzabayli, this can also be considered as an example of France's insincere behavior towards the European Union, of which it’s a member, its destructive activities, and its attempts to put its own interests above the interests of the EU.

"France, speaking of ‘human rights and freedoms’, ‘democracy’ and ‘the right of peoples to self-determination’, still has colonies. The territory of the de facto colonies of modern France, scattered almost throughout the oceans, is 560,000 square kilometers and has more people than Armenia,” he said.

“Guadeloupe and Martinique, Saint Barthélemy, and Saint Martin in the Caribbean Sea, French Guiana, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean close to South America, Reunion and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, French Polynesia, made up of 130 small islands in the Pacific Ocean, as well as Wallis and Futuna, and New Caledonia are still considered ‘civilized’, ‘democratic’ French colonies,” the expert noted.

“Why France, speaking about some special ‘rights’ for a handful of Armenians living in the zone of temporary responsibility of Russian peacekeepers on the territory of Azerbaijan, doesn’t give these rights to Reunion’s population of more than 800,000 people and Guadeloupe with a population of about 500,000 people, or doesn’t give independence to Martinique island’s population of 400,000 people?” Mirzabayli also said.

“Now this country is again trying to interfere in matters which have nothing to do with it, related to other peoples and states, to raise again issues taken off the agenda due to the 2020 second Karabakh war, which resulted in the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions, as well as due to diplomatic efforts, and clearly wants to impede the peace process,” he pointed out. “However, following the conduct of the current leadership and relevant institutions of this country, contrary to international law and the peace process, the mediation of France between Azerbaijan and Armenia is completely impossible. France is a party acting in the interests of the Armenian lobby and is on the side of Armenia in all matters.”

The expert added that no one in Azerbaijan has forgotten and will not forget the negative activities of France as one of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group for almost 30 years.

"In the current situation, France's attempts to interfere in the Brussels format are undoubtedly connected with the intention of Paris to exclude the European Union as a separate institution from this process and act on behalf of the EU, as in the case of the institution of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship,” Mirzabayli said.

“France wants to appropriate the Brussels format and make it a platform for defending the interests of Armenia. From this point of view, Azerbaijan should not participate in the process, the results and course of which are already known, and should refuse all meetings held with the participation of France,” he noted. “The country which committed genocide in various countries of the world, including Rwanda and Algeria, as well as accusing others of committing genocide on the basis of fictitious claims, in no way can demonstrate a fair position on the issue of crimes of genocide, occupation, terrorism, and vandalism committed by Armenia over the past almost 30 years.”

“The Azerbaijani people don’t have any confidence and don’t even want to hear the name of this country [France] in the context of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations," concluded the expert.