“France was one of the first countries to recognize Azerbaijan’s Independence. As a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, France tried to maintain a neutral position towards the former conflict,” said Christian Vallard, Professor of Public Law at the Côte d'Azur University as he addressed the panel discussions of the international conference on the “France and Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict”.
France had previously endorsed the PACE resolution concerning Azerbaijan's occupied territories, the Professor stressed.
According to him, former French presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac favored strengthening ties with Azerbaijan. However, the current situation between Paris and Baku has somewhat changed.
"The cause of this crisis is Emmanuel Macron's visit to Armenia and his failure to visit Azerbaijan in 2018," Christian Vallard added.
