Comment by the Press Service Department of Azerbaijan MFA, Dec. 4, 2020

The adoption of the resolution of the French National Assembly entitled "Protection of the Armenian people and the Christian communities of Europe and the East" is another completely unfounded, unfriendly and provocative activity of the French Parliament. The adoption of a biased resolution by the Lower House following the Senate is a sign of the ongoing campaign against Azerbaijan.

As the name of the resolution suggests, the members of the National Assembly, who have nothing to do with reality and want to add religious tones to the issue, try to present their pro-Armenian positions with artificial justification.

Azerbaijan is a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state where people of different religions and ethnicities live as one family in harmony and peace. We reject the attempts to present the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict as a clash of religions and civilizations, and strongly condemn such an approach, which poses a serious threat to peace and security.

This resolution has no legal force. Nevertheless, given the political significance of the National Assembly document, as in the case of the Senate, we would like to emphasize that these fundamentally wrong resolutions contradict the norms and principles of international law, the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act, UN Security Council resolutions of 1993, as well as bilateral documents between Azerbaijan and France.

This action by the French legislative body seriously undermines the country's mediation mandate, as well as bilateral relations.

It should also be noted that the French National Assembly has never held a hearing or adopted a resolution on the one million Azerbaijanis who have been subjected to ethnic cleansing and fundamental human rights violations. This clearly demonstrates that the position of the French legislative body is completely biased.

The National Assembly's approach, which completely contradicts the provisions of the statement of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia of November 10, 2020, seriously undermines the efforts to ensure peace and security both in the region and globally.

We would like to note that the Ambassador of France to Azerbaijan will be summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in connection with the adoption of the groundless and biased resolution by the National Assembly, and the strong protest of Azerbaijan will be brought to his attention.