France's policy harms already fragile peace in South Caucasus

Head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the OSCE PA Azay Guliyev, speaking within the framework of the OSCE PA winter session in Vienna, said that the French policy harms the already fragile peace in the South Caucasus, Azernews reports.

He noted that the French government pursues a policy of militarization of Armenia, promising new deals on arms supplies to Yerevan.

"Such a policy of France only harms the already fragile peace and security in the region, seriously affecting the normalization process [between Baku and Yerevan], and therefore should be stopped," he said.

Guliyev stressed that the French parliamentarians' claims against Azerbaijan are groundless and are only a pretext for supporting Armenia's militarization.

The head of the Azerbaijani delegation stated that there is a historic opportunity between Azerbaijan and Armenia to turn the page of confrontation and establish good-neighborly relations.

He noted that Azerbaijan recognizes the potential of the OSCE PA as an effective platform to promote confidence-building efforts between Baku and Yerevan.

"Last December, Azerbaijan and Armenia reached mutual compromises on the COP29, exchanged prisoners of war on the basis of a bilateral agreement, which should be considered as a remarkable result of bilateral negotiations," Guliyev emphasized.

The head of the delegation believes that it is necessary to maintain this momentum and direct all efforts to encourage the countries to engage in bilateral dialogue to normalize relations and sign a peace treaty.