French expert: Parisian police should provide permanent protection to Azerbaijani embassy

A little more than a month has passed since the attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in London that a similar thing happened in Paris. The attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in France is not the first time when Azerbaijane diplomatic missions of our country abroad are attacked by the radical representatives of the Armenian community. Thus, a few days ago an aggressive group of Armenians attempted to attack the Azerbaijani embassy in the capital of Lebanon, Beirut.

French historian and political expert Maxime Gauin told Report that 'attacking diplomatic targets is not something new for the Armenian nationalists, especially the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.'

A bright example is the attack by Armenian terrorists on the Turkish Embassy in Ottawa on March 12, 1985 - the third attack on a Turkish diplomatic mission in Ottawa by Armenian terrorists. In April 1982, the commercial adviser to the embassy, ​​Kani Gungor received several gunwounds in his garage and was paralyzed as a result, for which the "Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia" immediately claimed responsibility. Four months later, in August 1982, military attaché Colonel Atilla Altikat was shot dead on his way to work, for which the Fighters for Justice for the so-called "Armenian genocide" claimed responsibility.

This time, the target of the attack was the embassy of Azerbaijan in Paris. The posted video shows that an embassy official tries to resist the members of the Armenian radical group. It begs a logical question of why did the government of France not provide full security for the diplomatic mission? Ambassador of Azerbaijan in France Rahman Mustafaev said that France ignored the reasoned requests of the embassy to ensure proper security of the building and employees.

In turn, political scientist Maxime Gauin believes that "the danger clearly was completely underestimated" by the French side.

"It should be the occasion to set the record straight, to obtain a sufficient protection, but also to give an assault rifle to the guardians of your embassy in Paris," he said.

According to Gauin, had anybody tried something similar to an US or Israeli embassy, they would have been shoot with assault rifles.

In fact, how is the topic of the protection of diplomatic missions reflected in international law? Article 12 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 states that the premises of a diplomatic mission are inviolable. The authorities of the receiving State may not enter these premises except with the consent of the head of mission. It also states that the host State has a special obligation to take all appropriate measures to protect the premises of the mission from any intrusion or damage, which France itself has decided not to do.

Gauin noted that the police of Paris must ensure constant protection of the Azerbaijani embassy and systematically prohibit demonstrations right in front of the diplomatic mission.

"When Armenian and/or Kurdish nationalists want to demonstrate near the Turkish embassy, they are forced to do it hundreds of meters away, never in front of any entrance door, and there is always a big police presence to prevent them from crossing the line. The same measures have to be taken," he added.