The mayors of the three largest French cities, Paris, Lyon and Marseille, published a joint article in the “Libération” newspaper, requesting to impose sanctions on Azerbaijan in connection with the latter’s blocking of the Lachine corridor.
The RA Embassy in France published the Armenian translation of the article on its Facebook social network platform. The article mentions that the Republic of Artsakh has become a victim of the blockade organized by the Baku regime, which is gradually suffocating the latter. The mayors of Paris, Lyon and Marseille request that France and the European Union react as quickly as possible in support of Artsakh with clear actions.
“Azerbaijan’s belligerent policy against the Republic of Artsakh gained new strength on December 12, when the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia was blocked by the organization of official Baku. At the same time, until the previous Friday, Azerbaijan had also closed the gas supply to Nagorno Karabakh, thus testifying to its will to suffocate this small besieged Republic of the South Caucasus. However, the consolidation of Western governments, and in particular the position of the French government, prompted Baku to resume gas supplies and thus fortunately avoid worsening the situation on the eve of a cold winter.
The situation, however, remains unacceptable and France cannot tolerate the constant threat to the one hundred and twenty thousand Armenians living in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (part of whose territories have been occupied by Azerbaijan). France cannot leave them to the whims of dictator Ilham Aliyev, who has been promoting anti-Armenian policies for two decades.
The French Senate and then the National Assembly recently called on the French government to take structural measures.
In this context, we call on the President of the Republic of France to officially meet the elected representatives of the Republic of Artsakh. Parallel to that, we call for unconditional condemnation of the Baku regime, which announced through the lips of its Foreign Minister that Azerbaijan will no longer negotiate anything on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, in violation of its own international obligations, particularly within the framework of November 9, 2020.
We also request to initiate a European policy of sanctions against Azerbaijan, such as was adopted against Russia, starting, for example, to freeze the assets of Azerbaijani leaders and oligarchs kept in our country.
And since this regime is no longer willing to negotiate, we request that France adopt a transparent position towards Nagorno-Karabakh, particularly in terms of decentralized cooperation, so that our regions, departments and cities, following the example of Paris, Lyon, Marseille or other local self-governing bodies, can mobilize human, financial and material resources, extending a helping hand to Artsakh for the reconstruction of numerous infrastructures destroyed by successive conflicts.
We also request that France participate in the reactivation of the Stepanakert airport. This air bridge will reduce the effects of the blockade and ease the lives of thousands of civilians whose only sin is the will to live in their own land.
Firmly convinced that French diplomacy should play a major role, we call on the President of the French Republic and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to continue making efforts, coordinating them with our partners, to establish lasting peace in the region and, in accordance with international law, to ensure the application of the right of nations to self-determination,” it’s mentioned in the article.
The mayors also requested that France and the European Union show great foresight when concluding cooperation and trade agreements with Azerbaijan. They mentioned that Ursula Van der Leyen’s initiative to get gas supply from Baku worries them more than anything. According to them, the fact that the financing of the conflict against the Republic of Artsakh may not be condemned and harshly opposed by the leaders of France is particularly worrying.
