Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev asserted on Tuesday that France is stuck in its colonial past and is keen on producing instability in places where it has never previously dominated.
Speaking at a decolonization conference held by Baku, Aliyev slammed Paris, including its military contact with Azerbaijan’s neighbouring adversary Armenia following the conclusion of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict earlier this year.
According to the Azerbaijani leader, France was responsible for millions of colonialism-related fatalities and is actively pursuing a “neocolonialism policy” today, both in former territorial possessions and beyond.
“France destabilizes… the South Caucasus by supporting separatist tendencies and separatists,” Aliyev said in a statement. “By arming Armenia, it implements a militaristic policy, encourages revanchist forces in Armenia, and prepares the ground for the start of new wars in our region.”
France declared in late October that it was selling weaponry to Armenia as part of its increased defence cooperation with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government. Armenian Deputy Defence Minister Edvard Asryan visited the US European Command (EUCOM) headquarters earlier this month to examine how Washington and its NATO allies could assist Yerevan with a military buildup.
Armenia is a Russian partner in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), although under Pashinyan’s leadership, the country has turned to the West. During border confrontations with Azerbaijan last year, the prime minister accused Moscow of failing to defend his country. Instead, Russia and other CTSO members advocated for de-escalation and dispatched officials to oversee the truce.
In September, Azerbaijani troops took full control of Nagorno-Karabakh, dealing a setback to the Pashinyan administration. During the fall of the USSR, the territory’s primarily ethnic-Armenian people sought independence from Baku.
The September operation concluded what was began during the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war. At the time, the peace reached by Pashinyan and Aliyev through Russian mediation resulted in Yerevan formally acknowledging.
Western nations have for several years been offering themselves to Armenia as alternative security providers instead of Russia. Türkiye, a NATO member and Azerbaijani ally, expressed skepticism about the intentions of outside players on Monday.
