Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry Responds to Macron's Statement on Pressuring Aliyev

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has deemed French President Emmanuel Macron's "anti-Azerbaijani statements" made during a meeting with the Armenian community in Marseille as "unacceptable." These statements reflect a "one-sided support" for Armenia. Macron had stated that he has exerted and will continue to exert more pressure on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev than on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Macron remarked, "Pashinyan is the question; I have a clear position and message on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue." In response, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry claimed, "The announcements regarding pressure on President Ilham Aliyev are a product of President Macron's imagination. Attempts to exert pressure on the Azerbaijani president have never yielded results. President Macron's statement once again demonstrates that he is a 'tool' in the hands of the Armenian lobby in France... In the context of Armenia's recognition of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and acknowledgement of Nagorno-Karabakh as an 'inseparable part' of Azerbaijan, such 'biased' statements by President Macron not only impede the establishment of peace and stability in the region but also contribute to the further expansion of the destructive activities of those who encourage and support separatism and terrorism,” the statement from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reads.

It is noteworthy that during his meeting with the Armenian community, Macron also stated, “Do not doubt my determination regarding Nagorno-Karabakh and, generally, Armenia; I will continue my efforts, even if I am almost the only one in the international community with this agenda. You also know that France has sent its military attaché to its embassy in Armenia for the first time, which should mean something, right? We must do everything we can, to the maximum.”