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AZERBAIJANIS CALL FOR FRANCE TO LEAVE KARABAKH TALKS
EurasiaNet.org
Jan 24 2012
NY
France's approval of a bill making it a crime to deny that Ottoman
Turks committed genocide against ethnic Armenians during World War
I has not only enraged Turkey, but also proven de trop for Turkey's
regional cousin, Azerbaijan. As a result, an Azerbaijani campaign is
now building for the French to stop mediating Azerbaijan's conflict
with Armenia over the breakaway region of Nagorno Karabakh.
Baku, which has long maintained if-you-love-me-you-must-love-Turkey
stance, believes that France has undermined its status as an impartial
negotiator in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by passing the bill.
France, along with the US and Russia, has long led the effort to
resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over the territory through
a negotiations mechanism called the Minsk Group.
"The most dignified way would be for France to step aside from the
mediation as it lost the moral right to fulfill this mission," said
Ali Ahmedov, deputy chairperson of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party,
headed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
As of yet, no public sign that President Aliyev also expressed such
views during his recent peace pow-wow in Sochi with Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, but the remarks
no doubt occurred with Aliyev's sanction.
"Lately, French leaders act as an Armenia lobbyist," Ahmedov went on
saying. (A similar charge has been leveled at the US Senate by some
Azerbaijanis over the scuttled confirmation of former Ambassador
Matthew Bryza.) "The fact that the French President [Nicolas]
Sarkozy... called Armenia a sister to France and called on the European
Union to adopt this absurd law... is clear proof of this." The bill
is just a presidential signature away from being signed into law.
Azerbaijan's foreign ministry slammed French lawmakers for passing
the bill while ignoring the 1992 Khojaly massacre of ethnic Azeris
in Nagorno Karabakh, and the rights of the thousands of ethnic
Azeris displaced by the 1988-1994 war over Karabakh and surrounding
Azerbaijani territory.
The ministry, which last week summoned French Ambassador Gabriel
Keller for an official dressing-down, called on France to "take an
unbiased look at . . . history without turning such questions into . .
. fodder for political gambling."
EurasiaNet.org
Jan 24 2012
NY
France's approval of a bill making it a crime to deny that Ottoman
Turks committed genocide against ethnic Armenians during World War
I has not only enraged Turkey, but also proven de trop for Turkey's
regional cousin, Azerbaijan. As a result, an Azerbaijani campaign is
now building for the French to stop mediating Azerbaijan's conflict
with Armenia over the breakaway region of Nagorno Karabakh.
Baku, which has long maintained if-you-love-me-you-must-love-Turkey
stance, believes that France has undermined its status as an impartial
negotiator in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by passing the bill.
France, along with the US and Russia, has long led the effort to
resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over the territory through
a negotiations mechanism called the Minsk Group.
"The most dignified way would be for France to step aside from the
mediation as it lost the moral right to fulfill this mission," said
Ali Ahmedov, deputy chairperson of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party,
headed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
As of yet, no public sign that President Aliyev also expressed such
views during his recent peace pow-wow in Sochi with Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, but the remarks
no doubt occurred with Aliyev's sanction.
"Lately, French leaders act as an Armenia lobbyist," Ahmedov went on
saying. (A similar charge has been leveled at the US Senate by some
Azerbaijanis over the scuttled confirmation of former Ambassador
Matthew Bryza.) "The fact that the French President [Nicolas]
Sarkozy... called Armenia a sister to France and called on the European
Union to adopt this absurd law... is clear proof of this." The bill
is just a presidential signature away from being signed into law.
Azerbaijan's foreign ministry slammed French lawmakers for passing
the bill while ignoring the 1992 Khojaly massacre of ethnic Azeris
in Nagorno Karabakh, and the rights of the thousands of ethnic
Azeris displaced by the 1988-1994 war over Karabakh and surrounding
Azerbaijani territory.
The ministry, which last week summoned French Ambassador Gabriel
Keller for an official dressing-down, called on France to "take an
unbiased look at . . . history without turning such questions into . .
. fodder for political gambling."