France still cannot get rid of colonial ambitions and the “crusader mentality,” the Western Azerbaijan Community said in a statement on Monday, News.Az reports.

The Community recalled that a group of French socio-political figures, who have lost their sense of shame, issued a ridiculous appeal in protest against the decision to hold the UN climate summit (COP29) in Azerbaijan in 2024. “This once again demonstrates the racist, Islamophobic and Azerbaijanophobic nature of French society,” the Community stressed.

“The authors of the appeal, who slander Azerbaijan and confuse our country, which always acts in accordance with international law, with France, seem to think that important international events should be held only in a certain group of countries calling themselves the "international community". It feels like they still haven't managed to get rid of their colonial mentality,” it noted.

The Community emphasized that among the signatories of the racist appeal, there are such "familiar" faces as Anne Hidalgo, Valerie Pecresse and Bruno Retailleau.

“Valerie Pecresse and her like-minded friend Bruno Retailleau illegally visited Karabakh exactly two years ago, when she was a French presidential candidate, to meet with Arayik Harutyunyan and David Babayan, who are now drinking tea in Baku prison and waiting for the decision of the Azerbaijani court. And Anne Hidalgo came with a "humanitarian" cargo caravan to the Lachin road this year and made a cheap show with crocodile tears.

 Instead, Anne Hidalgo should have been busy preparing Paris, which is in a deplorable condition, for the Olympic Games,” said the Community.

“Such steps against Azerbaijan are futile. Time has shown that France's assistance to Armenia consists only in awarding the title of honorary citizen of Paris to a few Karabakh Armenians,” the Community concluded.