Azerbaijan, through its embassy in Paris, denounced on Tuesday January 18 the "
unacceptable
" attacks by the right-wing candidate Valérie Pécresse and her "
attacks on the dignity
" of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, whom she accuses of threatened with death.
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"
Ms. Pécresse's statements about alleged 'death threats', these constant attacks on Azerbaijan and the attacks on the dignity of the president (...) are unacceptable
", regretted the embassy in a press release. “
Ms. Pécresse is trying to hide under this announcement the illegality of the conditions of her trip to the Republic of Azerbaijan
,” she continues. “
The electoral campaign cannot authorize Ms. Pécresse to free herself from respect for Azerbaijani law
” nor from “
France's international, European and bilateral commitments
”, points out the text.
At the end of December, the candidate of the Republicans (right) for the presidential election Valérie Pécresse had gone to Armenia to support the Christians of the East, a theme dear to the French conservative right, while Armenia and Azerbaijan have engaged in autumn 2020 a short but bloody war for Nagorny-Karabakh.
The conflict around this territory belonging to Azerbaijan, but which, mainly populated by Armenians, seceded from Baku at the fall of the USSR, caused 6,500 deaths.
Armenia is the first Christian state in history (4th century) and Azerbaijan is overwhelmingly Muslim, although this country is one of the most secular in the world.
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During Valérie Pécresse's visit to Yerevan, "
the President of Armenia made the means available for her to go to Nagorny-Karabakh and she went there
", commented on Tuesday her entourage, questioned by AFP . However, this part of the candidate's trip had not been communicated upstream "
for security reasons
", continued this source, who indicated "
not sure
" that Baku had been informed. Last Wednesday, President Aliev reproached Valérie Pécresse and Michel Barnier, one of his advisers, for having gone "
secretly
" to Nagorny-Karabakh. "
If we had known they were there, obviously we wouldn't have let them come back (to Armenia)
“, he had launched.
Friday, Ms. Pécresse had denounced from Athens the “
seriousness of this threat to a presidential candidate who would not be free to go where she wants
”.
She filed a complaint on Saturday against President Aliyev for "
death threats
".
While France recognizes that Nagorny-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan, "
it is appalling
" that Valérie Pécresse went there "
so as not to displease some of her voters
", at the risk of rekindling tensions around of this territory, regrets the Azerbaijani Embassy.