“France should not be taken seriously now. It is a country that is completely losing its influence, all its remaining positions, including those after colonialism. It is being chased out of Africa, it is not being reckoned with in Europe even though it is trying to claim a significant role... It is possible to say that Paris is maneuvering between US desires and its own wishes,” Russian political scientist, specialist in interethnic conflicts and security expert Evgeny Mikhaylov has told AZERTAC, while commenting on the inability of the US, France and other Western countries to accept the new realities that have emerged in the South Caucasus after Azerbaijan fully regained its territorial integrity and sovereignty.
“France's anti-Azerbaijani and pro-Armenian policy is, of course, linked to the huge Armenian diaspora in this country and the desire of Paris to displease Moscow in the South Caucasus, because it was Russia that actually contributed to France getting thrown out of Africa. The Armenian diaspora has immense monetary resources, a great lobbying influence on the French political establishment, and, acting within certain limits, France hopes to secure a piece of the political influence pie. So, I think that France and indeed the US, although the US is more powerful for the time being, will eventually come to the point when they will not care about Armenia,” the expert said.
According to Evgeny Mikhaylov, “all the efforts of France and the United States of America in the context of politics in the South Caucasus should be viewed as recognition of Azerbaijan: they see Azerbaijan as a strong country, which has strong allies, Türkiye and Russia, as well as Iran, with which relations appear to have already improved, and everything they do, they do only to the detriment of their own political reputation”.
“In general, we should not be surprised that the West, represented by the US, France and allies, is doing everything it can to allegedly protect Armenia. It is possible to say that the collective West is acting towards Azerbaijan in a complex with the war against the Russian Federation. Azerbaijan is a certain obstacle on the way to achieving the goal of putting pressure on the Russian Federation via Armenia, which is why the West is making maximum effort against Azerbaijan, including the “Armenia Protection Act of 2023”, arms supplies, etc. As for Armenia itself, it is quite obvious that it is not capable of fighting against Azerbaijan: rebuilding the army will take a very long time. In addition, huge resources are required for armament. But Pashinyan and coalition appear to have been promised “big cookies” for starting to play the so-called “independent game of a small but proud nation”. But sooner or later Washington will be fed up with this situation,” Mikhaylov believes.
The expert is sure: the States need a conflict in the South Caucasus now. It will make maximum effort to destabilize the region. “The region houses the two most unacceptably independent countries for the United States, and they have long been acting out of line – Iran and Russia. Therefore, in this combination, Azerbaijan, pursuing its own national interests, is in the way of the desire of the United States to harm Russia, which, like Azerbaijan, is interested in the Zangezur corridor and stability in the region. I believe that there will be a continuation of such conflict, at least in political sense, in the form of statements of the West towards Azerbaijan, but that can be overcome,” he emphasized.
Answering a question about the position of UNESCO, which, despite repeated appeals from Baku, does not send a fact-finding mission to the territories of Azerbaijan liberated from occupation, claiming that this is allegedly a political issue, the Russian political scientist noted that the hypocrisy of this organization manifests itself not only in its approach to Karabakh, but everywhere where the interests of the United States of America are at stake. “UNESCO will now be yelling that Azerbaijan is engaged in cultural genocide in addition to ethnic genocide, is erasing the history of the “great Armenian kingdom”. This, again, is also a matter of time. All these organizations are completely and unilaterally politicized: what the United States of America says, UNESCO will do; what the European Union, which is subordinated to the United States, will say, UNESCO will do, and this is the case with the World Health Organization and other pseudo-independent organizations. I think we should keep doing what we are doing, rebuild churches, etc. If an ancient khachkar is suddenly discovered in Karabakh, which is doubtful, Azerbaijan will not remove it anywhere. The Armenians were not even close to this territory in ancient times, they settled there 150 years ago,” the expert added.
