Monday, October 22 2018 20:30

ArmInfo. Baku threatened to make the mayor of the French city of Saint-Etienne Gael Perdrio in the "black list" of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry for visiting Artsakh.

Thus, in response to the visit of the French delegation to  Nagorno-Karabakh, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan  accused the local government of France of gross violation of the  norms and principles of international law, as well as Azerbaijani  legislation. Moreover, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry strongly  condemned the visit of the French delegation. "This step is contrary  to the national laws of France and serves to encourage the fictional  separatist regime created by Armenia in the occupied territories of  Azerbaijan. The mayor of Saint-Etienne accompanied him on his illegal  trip, distinguished by his biased attitude towards Azerbaijan and  influenced by the Armenian lobby of Francois Rochebloine. Declaration  of friendship signed within the framework of the "unlawful visit"  does not have any legal force. Such illegal steps of the local  governments of France cause Serious harm to the efforts of the OSCE  Minsk Group co- chairs, in which France is represented, to resolve  the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through negotiations, as well as to  France's image as a mediator, "Baku said, calling on the French  government to take steps that would force the local governments of  this country to refuse from illegal acts serving the status quo.

"For violation of Azerbaijani legislation and a visit to  Nagorno-Karabakh, the name of a French citizen Gael Perdrio will be  included in the list of undesirable persons of the Azerbaijani  Foreign Ministry," summed up in the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

It should be noted that on October 21 the Declaration of Friendship  was signed between the city of Shushi of the Republic of Artsakh and  the French city of Saint-Etienne The declaration was signed by the  Mayor of Shushi Artsvik Sargsyan and the Mayor of Saint-Etienne, a  member of the <France-Artsakh> Circle of Friendship Gael Perdrio. The  signing ceremony was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of  the Republic of Artsakh Masis Mailyan and the former head of the  France-Artsakh Circle of Friendship, former deputy of the French  National Assembly Francois Rochebloine.

The Declaration, in particular, notes that, taking as a basis the  absolute importance of the democratic values and freedoms enshrined  in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the need to  establish peace and stability in the South Caucasus, the parties  decided to establish friendly relations between cities, to carry out  joint programs in economy, education, culture, sports and local  government, as well as promote the exchange of experience and  professional knowledge between the two cities.