French Ambassador summoned to Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry due to  meeting of President Auvergne- Ron-Alpes with Artsakh Foreign  Minister

ArmInfo. The meeting between  the President of the Auvergne- Ron-Alpes Regional Council, Laurent  Wauquiez , and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh, Masis  Mayilyan, and the signing of their joint declaration angered Baku.

In this regard, French Ambassador  Zacharie Gross was invited to the  Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, where him was presented a note of  protest.

According to Turan, during the meeting of the Ambassador with Deputy  Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov, it was stated that the calls  reflected in the declaration "strike a blow at the negotiation  process to resolve the Karabakh conflict and contain support for the  position of the occupier of Armenia."

The Ambassador was told that the signing of such allegedly illegal  documents by local and regional authorities in France, a leading EU  country and co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, "casts a shadow" on the  impartial mediating role of Paris.

The French ambassador was requested to intervene in this matter by  the French Foreign Ministry and provide clarifications to the  Azerbaijani side.

In turn, Grosr said that such actions by local and municipal  authorities do not have any legal force and do not reflect the  position of the French government. He noted that France's position on  the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains fundamental  and unchanged.

At the same time, the ambassador emphasized that the French  government does not support the program of Wauquiez's visit to  Yerevan. His meeting with the representative of Artsakh was held  after the completion of the official part of the visit and the French  ambassador to Armenia was not present.

It should be noted that by the efforts of the Azerbaijani side,  declarations and memoranda between Artsakh and the regions of France  are annulled by judicial decisions. We also note that all these  declarations are called upon to strengthen cooperation in the  humanitarian sphere.