France's Interior Minister Accuses Azerbaijan of Attempting to Intervene in New Caledonia

France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has announced that Azerbaijan is attempting to intervene in the situation in New Caledonia, where protests and unrest have erupted in recent days. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has described such accusations as offensive.

"This is not a fantasy; this is reality. Unfortunately, some independence fighters have made deals with Azerbaijan," Darmanin stated during an interview on France2 television (his remarks were reported by RFI).

New Caledonia is a French overseas territory, a group of islands located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, adjacent to Australia's economic zone, with a population of about 270,000 people.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the social media platform 'X,' labeling the French authorities' accusations as "offensive and unfounded." According to AFP, the French government has been concerned about Azerbaijan's influence on the situation in New Caledonia for several months but has not publicly raised the issue before.