Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's official visit to France will give impetus to further development of the cooperation between the two countries in all areas, Elkhan Shahinoglu, director of the Baku-based Atlas Research Center, told APA.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev paid an official visit to France on March 12-15.
Shahinoglu noted that this visit was important for several reasons.
“Firstly, in early March Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan paid a visit to France and made some statements there. Following this, President Ilham Aliyev visited Paris where he exposed the Armenian president’s lies through arguments. Armenia has a lot of debts and is experiencing a growing migration problem. In such a case, which French company can agree to invest in Armenia? On the contrary, French companies can show interest in investing in Azerbaijan, because large projects are being implemented in Azerbaijan, which has large financial resources and transport opportunities of which will connect large continents. All this is more attractive,” he said.
The political analyst noted that the second factor which emphasizes the importance of President Aliyev’s visit to France is related to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Shahinoglu continued: “During his visit to France, Sargsyan made numerous false statements about the issue. According to the Armenian websites, allegedly Hollande said at one of the meetings that the status of Nagorno-Karabakh should be determined, after which it would be possible to liberate five districts. We could not find out whether it was true or not as Armenian websites prefer to spread disinformation. But the fact is that at his meeting with the Azerbaijani president Hollande did not make such a statement. On the contrary, he stressed the need to ensure peace in the region, intensify peace talks and strengthen the OSCE Minsk Group’s activity. President Aliyev, in turn, repeatedly stated that the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan cannot be a topic for negotiations. This was a serious message to the French president as well.”
As for illegal activities of some French companies in Nagorno-Karabakh, the political analyst noted that President Aliyev also highlighted this issue during his visit to France.
“The head of state asked what the French companies are gaining by being engaged in these activities not in Azerbaijan, but in its occupied territories. They will be blacklisted and deprived of cooperation with Azerbaijan. The matter is about small companies. None of great companies would like to operate in the separatist region. If blacklisted it will be detrimental to them,” he added.
Political analyst Gabil Huseynli in his statement to APA stressed the importance of the Azerbaijani president’s recent visit to France.
"Earlier, the Armenian President visited Russia, and from there he went to France. Now Sargsyan is going to Moscow again. I’m beginning to suspect that France and Russia have begun to take a common position with regard to resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. However, a number of points that are not in favor of Azerbaijan have appeared in this position. Using the expression ‘Artsakh,’ Francois Hollande showed this,” he said.
He noted that considering the above, the Azerbaijani president’s visit to Paris came at an opportune moment as Ilham Aliyev discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Hollande and stated Azerbaijan’s position.
Huseynli continued: “This was also a warning to the French leader that he should give up his pro-Armenian position and act within the framework of international law and the well-known resolutions of the UN Security Council. The Azerbaijani president also revealed the truth that about 20 French companies are operating in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan, which means a violation of international law by France. Azerbaijan’s head of state stressed that French companies must stop their activities in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, otherwise lawsuits can be filed and other legal measures taken.”
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