Paris is not ready to abandon confrontational rhetoric in relations with Baku — Foreign Ministry

Official Baku strongly condemns yet another groundless accusation by Paris against Azerbaijan.

This was stated in a comment by the spokesperson of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Aykhan Hajizada, in connection with the claims made by France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot on October 13 at the Global Forum of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) "Strengthening Trust and Democracy."

According to him, the French minister's accusations show that Paris is still not ready to abandon confrontational rhetoric in relations with Azerbaijan.

The Foreign Ministry representative emphasized that accusations of Azerbaijan interfering in the struggle of the peoples of New Caledonia and other overseas territories of France for their rights are completely groundless: "Attempts to groundlessly explain by external interference the positions of the parties that differ in their assessments of the processes in France's overseas territories are aimed at obscuring the will and concerns of the population of these territories."

Hajizada noted that French officials who talk about democracy, human rights and the rule of law should first of all ensure the consistent observance of these principles in France's own policy.

In this regard, Baku calls on Paris to stop making groundless accusations against Azerbaijan and to be guided in international relations by the principles of mutual respect, sovereign equality and non-interference in internal affairs.