Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry has asked two French diplomats to leave the country for acting "incompatible with their position".
French Ambassador to Belgrade Anne Boillon was summoned to express “strong protest over the actions of two French embassy employees,” the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement today. The two French diplomats have been declared “persona non grata” and must leave Azerbaijan within 48 hours.
Azerbaijani officials did not specify what the two French diplomats did. The move comes amid strained bilateral relations, with Azerbaijan accusing France of favoring Armenia in European-brokered peace talks between Baku and Yerevan.
In November, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accused France of provoking conflict in the Caucasus region by declaring support and pledging to supply arms and ammunition to Armenia.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attends a conference in Moscow, Russia in May. Photo: AFP
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought two wars in the 1990s and 2020 over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been separated from Azerbaijan since pro-Armenian separatists took control of the region following a war in the early 1990s.
Baku regained control of Nagorno-Karabakh in September, after a lightning campaign against pro-Armenian separatists. The two sides had previously said they could reach a comprehensive peace deal before the end of the year, but negotiations have made little progress.
President Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have met several times in person for talks, with the European Union acting as an intermediary. Mr Aliyev refused to meet Mr Pashinyan in Spain in October, accusing France of having a “biased stance”.
Nhu Tam (According to AFP )
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