Article by Azerbaijan's Consul General in Los Angeles, Nasimi Aghayev, titled "How the French Ambassador watered-down UNSC documents on Armenia's invasion of Kalbajar" was published at Medium online platform on November 24.
Aghayev mentions that "On November 25, 2020, Armenia handed the Kalbajar district back to Azerbaijan, in line with the
The Consul General notes that "The invasion and total ethnic cleansing of Kalbajar by Armenia in early April 1993 was one of the most crucial moments and darkest chapters in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict." An investigation by Human Rights Watch said: "The only outlet from Kalbajar to Azerbaijan proper was over the Murov mountains to the north through the Omar pass, a treacherous journey in winter…60,000 people were forced to flee their homes... many were taken hostage or killed by indiscriminate fire."
Aghayev further mentions that "These facts are confirmed by
Immediately after Kalbajar's invasion, the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) passed a statement on April 6, 1993, condemning the invasion and demanding the withdrawal of occupying forces. Referring to recently declassified U.S. State Department cables that were published by Clinton Presidential Library on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, Nasimi Aghayev notes that "From the cables, it becomes clear that at the behest of the French U.N. Ambassador Jean-Bernard Mérimée, the UNSC Statement on Kalbajar's invasion was substantially watered down. Opposing the language presented by U.S. Ambassador Madeleine Albright and other members of the U.N. Security Council and in an apparent attempt to exculpate Armenia for invasion, Amb. Mérimée insisted on the inclusion of the wording "local Armenian forces" as invaders of Kalbajar... French insistence worked, and the UNSC passed the suggested, watered-down language. On April 30, 1993, the UNSC passed a
Aghayev further notes that "As Amb. Mérimée was watering down UNSC documents in favor of Armenia, an ethnic Armenian — Benon Sevan — was U.N. Assistant Secretary-General with particular responsibility for the Security Council.
"After all, Amb. Mérimée's strong pro-Armenian bias was also in line with diplomacy pursued by France — a country with one of the largest Armenian diasporas (around 500,000) in the world," so Aghayev. "Because of Armenian lobby's potential influence over French diplomacy, in 1997
Highlighting the French Senate resolution recommending the recognition of the so-called "Nagorno Karabakh Republic" - a puppet regime of Armenia -, Aghayev emphasizes that "such recognition would not only violate the international law and the very foundations of the international legal system France helped to build after the WWII, it would also contradict France's status as
Despite many efforts by the Armenian lobby and their allies, they cannot change an elementary fact that President Macron and before him
"Hopefully, Armenia and its diaspora groups will gradually realize that the only road to peace and prosperity for Armenia and its future generations passes through good neighborly relations with Azerbaijan, not through the occupation of neighbor's lands, driven by maximalist nationalism," concludes Aghayev.