Mayors of three largest French cities of Paris, Lyon and Marseille  call for sanctions against Azerbaijan

ArmInfo.The mayors of the three largest French cities of Paris, Lyon and Marseille published a joint article  in the "Liberation" newspaper with a request to impose  sanctions against Azerbaijan in connection with the blocking of the  Lachin corridor by the latter.

The Embassy of Armenia in France provided a translation of the  article under the heading:

POLICY OF PUNISHMENT AGAINST AZERBAIJAN IS NEEDED.

" The Republic of Artsakh, populated mainly by Armenians, has become  a victim of a blockade organized by the Baku regime, which is  gradually strangling the NKR. The mayors of Paris, Lyon and Marseille  expect clear actions by France and the European Union in support of  Artsakh, which will be taken in a short time," the article notes. 

In this vein, attention is drawn to the fact that the militant policy  of Azerbaijan towards the Republic of Artsakh gained new strength on  December 12, when the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with  Armenia was blocked under the coordination of official Baku.

"In addition, until last Friday, Azerbaijan also cut off gas supplies  to Nagorno-Karabakh, thereby indicating its desire to strangle this  small besieged republic of the South Caucasus. However, the  consolidation of Western governments, and in particular the position  of the French government, prompted Baku to resume gas supplies and  thus way, fortunately, to avoid worsening the situation on the eve of  a cold winter.

The situation, however, remains unacceptable, and France cannot  tolerate the constant threat to the 120,000 Armenians living in the  Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (part of which is occupied by Azerbaijan).  France cannot leave them to the mercy of dictator Ilham Aliyev, who  has been encouraging a policy of hatred towards Armenians for two  decades.

Recalling that the French Senate and its National Assembly had  recently called on the French government to take structural measures,  the heads of municipalities called on the President of France to  officially meet with the elected representatives of the Republic of  Artsakh.

"In parallel with this, we call for the unconditional condemnation of  the Baku regime, which declared through its foreign minister that  Azerbaijan would no longer negotiate on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in  violation of its own international obligations, especially as part of  the statement of November 9, 2020.

We also ask for the initiation of a European policy of sanctions  against Azerbaijan, similar to the one adopted against Russia,  starting, for example, with freezing the assets of Azerbaijani  leaders and oligarchs in our country. And since this regime is no  longer willing to negotiate, we ask France to take a transparent  stance towards Nagorno-Karabakh, especially in terms of decentralized  cooperation. So that our regions, departments and cities, following  the example of Paris, Lyon, Marseille or other local self-government  bodies, can mobilize human, financial and material resources,  extending a helping hand to Artsakh to restore numerous  infrastructures destroyed by successive conflicts," the article  reads. 

There is also an appeal to France to take part in the resumption of  the work of the Stepanakert airport. "This air bridge will reduce the  consequences of the blockade and make life easier for thousands of  civilians whose only sin is the desire to live on their own land.

Firmly convinced that French diplomacy should play a major role, we  call on the President of France and the Minister of Foreign Affairs  to continue their efforts, to join our partners, to establish lasting  peace in the region and, in accordance with international law, to  ensure the implementation of nations' right to self- determination 

Finally, we ask our country and the European Union to be more  far-sighted in concluding cooperation and trade agreements with  Azerbaijan. Most of all, we are concerned about the initiative of  Ursula  von der Leyen to receive gas from Baku, or rather from Russia  through Baku. It is alarming that the financing of the conflict  against the Republic of Artsakh is not condemned and does not meet  with strong opposition from our leaders, so that it does not turn out  that the peaceful victims of armed conflicts, in this case Armenians,  in other places Ukrainians or Yemenis, are sacrificed on the altar of  real politics ", the article notes.