France's President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday accused Russia of orchestrating the recent clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's divide and conquer policy in the South Caucasus region and beyond.
Emmanuel Macron's comments come after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month expressed his concerns that Russia "tries in some fashion to stir the pot" between Azerbaijan and Armenia "to create a distraction from Ukraine".
However, Macron went further, expressing his support for Armenia and blaming Azerbaijan for the clashes.
France is home to an influential Armenian diaspora.
France, along with the United States and Russia are co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) Minsk Group that mediates between the two ex-Soviet countries in the conflict over so-called Nagorno-Karabakh region, internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but had largely been controlled by Armenia until the war two years ago.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev on Friday hit back, slamming the French President's remarks as "offensive, unacceptable, incorrect and subversive".
The French president's biased approach with expression of support for Armenia has made France "unfit for mediation" in the rapprochement efforts, he noted.
"He is manipulating the facts and trying to confuse the French and world community. Karabakh is recognized by the whole world as an integral part of Azerbaijan. We used the right of self-defense to restore our territorial integrity".
“...We see no further possibility for France to play any role in the Azerbaijani-Armenian rapprochement process with such an attitude,” he was quoted as saying by the local media.
