PARIS: France accused Azerbaijan on Thursday (Could 16) of “interference” within the politics of its Pacific territory of New Caledonia, which has seen lethal riots in current days.
Azerbaijan swiftly denied the cost by French Inside Minister Gerald Darmanin, which added to a rising variety of tensions between France and the hydrocarbon-rich Caspian Sea state.
The riots in New Caledonia, a French territory mendacity between Australia and Fiji, had been sparked by strikes to agree a brand new voting regulation that supporters of independence from France say discriminates in opposition to the indigenous Kanak inhabitants.
French officers have for a while been involved concerning the curiosity taken by Azerbaijan in French abroad territories together with New Caledonia, despite the huge geographical and cultural distance.
“This is not a fantasy. It is a actuality,” Darmanin instructed France 2 TV when requested if Azerbaijan, China and Russia had been interfering in New Caledonia.
“I remorse that a number of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a take care of Azerbaijan. It is indeniable,” he alleged.
However he added: “Even when there are makes an attempt at interference … France is sovereign by itself territory, and a lot the higher”.
“STAND IN SOLIDIARITY”
“We fully reject the baseless accusations,” Azerbaijan’s international ministry spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh mentioned.
“We refute any connection between the leaders of the battle for freedom in Caledonia and Azerbaijan.”
Tensions between Paris and Baku have grown within the wake of the 2020 warfare, and 2023 lightning offensive, that Azerbaijan waged to regain management of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh area from ethnic Armenian separatists.
France is a conventional ally of Christian Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbour and historic rival, and can be residence to a major Armenian diaspora.
Darmanin mentioned Azerbaijan – which has been led since 2003 by President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar – was a “dictatorship”.
