BAKU, Azerbaijan
The Western Azerbaijan Community has strongly condemned the recent call by the President of the French Senate, Gérard Larcher, for the French government to provide Armenia with additional weapons, Trend reports.
"Considering Armenia's notorious history of violating international law, there is no doubt that such a step would be extremely detrimental. We believe that providing additional support to Armenia's mass armament program will only escalate tensions and hinder prospects for peace and stability in the region. Armenia has a history of aggressive behavior towards its neighbor, Azerbaijan, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity when it perceives itself militarily superior. It is crucial to emphasize that Armenia ethnically cleansed all Azerbaijanis from its territory, launched armed attacks on Azerbaijan, and illegally occupied a significant part of its land," said the statement.
The community reminded that this occupation led to the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from their homeland, the destruction of almost all Azerbaijani settlements and cultural heritage during the occupation.
"Armenia continues to disregard international norms by refusing to withdraw its troops from the territories of Azerbaijan temporarily occupied by Russian peacekeeping forces. Armenia also continues to militarily occupy eight Azerbaijani villages in the border region, violating Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and seriously undermining the peace process," said the statement.
Providing Armenia with additional weapons will only strengthen this country's aggressive claims and jeopardize the stability of the entire region, said the community.
"We must also emphasize that the weapons already provided by France to Armenia, based on existing agreements, have already had a negative impact on regional stability and complicated the peace process. Supplying Armenia with additional weapons would be highly irresponsible on the part of France and would exacerbate the difficulties our community faces in exercising its right to return to its ancestral lands. A militaristic Armenia will be less inclined to respect our human rights, such as our safe and dignified return to our homes. Therefore, we call on the French government to immediately cancel the export licenses issued for existing military-technical agreements and refrain from authorizing additional arms exports to Armenia," the community noted.
"As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, France bears the responsibility of promoting international peace and security by ensuring Armenia's compliance with the norms of international law, respecting Azerbaijan's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and facilitating the realization of our right to a safe and dignified return. Supplying large quantities of weapons to an aggressive Armenia is incompatible with the international responsibility entrusted to France. France must actively support and protect our safe and dignified return and take measures to ensure Armenia's prompt and effective response to our calls for constructive dialogue on this matter," the statement said.
