MFA: France's arming of Armenia will serve destructive activities in region

France's strengthening of Armenia's military potential is a threat to peace and stability and will serve Armenia's destructive activities in the region, Aykhan Hajizada, the spokesperson of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in an interview with Report.

According to Hajizada, France's actions seriously undermine efforts to normalize relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia based on sovereignty and territorial integrity, contributing to escalating tensions:

“France's blatant anti-Azerbaijan position during and after the 2020 Patriotic War is deeply disappointing. France's initiatives against Azerbaijan at the UN Security Council, European Union, Francophonie organization, and other international platforms have proven its claims of being a neutral mediator to be entirely baseless. Despite France's accusations against Azerbaijan, our steps and official statements in response to France have only been in response to this country's destructive activities.”

“As we have repeatedly stated, strengthening the military potential of Armenia, which kept part of the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan under occupation for nearly 30 years and continues to make territorial claims against our country and other neighbors, is a threat to peace and stability and will serve Armenia's destructive activities in the region,” the Azerbaijani MFA spokesperson stressed.

According to him, Armenia and France must end their policy of armament and militarization in the region, and these countries must finally understand that there is no alternative to peace and cooperation in the region.

Hajizada noted that, despite the smear campaign against Azerbaijan, dialogue channels have always been kept open on their side: “We expect the French side to refrain from actions against Azerbaijan and put an end to its policy against us that undermines regional stability.”

Read the full interview here.