Monday, October 19 2020 12:48

ArmInfo. The Council of the French Department of Hauts-de- Seine adopted a statement in which it called on the President and Government of France to reconsider their diplomatic strategy and provide diplomatic support to the Artsakh  Republic in the face of continuing aggression from Azerbaijan.

The statement was unanimously adopted at a meeting of the Council of  the French department of Hauts-de- Seine at the suggestion of a  member of the department, Josian Fischer.  The statement, in  particular, says: "On July 12 this year, the Azerbaijani army  launched a fierce attack on the Republic of Armenia using heavy  weapons. These military actions, which took place in the Tavush  region, were directed against the territorial integrity of the  Republic of Armenia, which has internationally recognized borders.

On July 16, the press secretary of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry,  Vagif Dargahli, threatened "with the possibility of striking the  Metsamor nuclear power plant in order to cause a natural disaster in  Armenia." On September 27, Azerbaijan launched a war against the  Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, during which cities, including the  capital Stepanakert, and civilians are targeted. This war broke out  with the support of Turkey, which still refuses to recognize the  responsibility of the Ottoman Turks for the 1915-1916.  genocide.  According to the Syrian Center for Human Rights, Turkish mercenaries  were deployed from Syria to Azerbaijan to take part in hostilities  and sow death in Nagorno-Karabakh.  In the ongoing conflict between  Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, on the one hand, and Azerbaijan, on the  other, which has been ongoing for several decades, France has sought  a peaceful settlement within the framework of the Minsk Group, which  is co-chaired by the United Nations Organization for Security and  Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). States and the Russian Federation.   France has so far sought peaceful solutions, guided by the principle  of neutrality.  Considering that this neutrality cannot be maintained  in relation to Azerbaijan, which initiated the war, and whose target  is the Armenian civilian population living in Nagorno-Karabakh,  Considering that Turkey's militant stance in supporting Azerbaijan  and the transfer of Syrian mercenaries is unacceptable and carries an  even greater risk of regional destabilization, Considering that  numerous residents, in particular of Stepanakert, were forced to  leave their homes due to the hostilities, and there is a humanitarian  need for an immediate end to the fighting, Taking into account that  the ceasefire established on the initiative of Russian diplomacy,  signed on October 10 by the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and  Azerbaijan, was not observed, The members of the Council of the  Hauts-de-Seine department appeal to the President and Government of  the French Republic for French diplomacy to reconsider its strategy  and express the following position:  France demands an immediate  cessation of hostilities and adherence to the ceasefire in  Nagorno-Karabakh.  Any further aggression on the part of Azerbaijan  may prompt France, after examining the circumstances, to provide  diplomatic assistance to the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh. "