During the years of occupation, many Azerbaijani towns and villages were completely destroyed, in which the Armenians did not spare cultural and historical objects. Serious damage has been caused to countless monuments, but, unfortunately, the conditions of today’s world dictate their own, sometimes very ambiguous rules. The World Organization for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage has double standards with regard to Azerbaijan, showing total indifference to the spiritual and material values of our people. Values, protection of which, according to its status, UNESCO is obliged to fully support, regardless of their nationality.
However, the organization has not responded for years to the looting and destruction of the material heritage of Azerbaijan and now refuses to name those responsible for the true cultural genocide and to participate in the restoration of what can still be preserved.
Strange as it may seem, even in such global and humanitarian organizations, sometimes it is not the numerous staff of the highest level specialists who make policy, but a certain person, who is quite knowledgeable in his profession, but an ambiguous one. There is almost no doubt that the reason for such, to put it mildly, one-sided policy towards Azerbaijan is the personal position of the current UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay.
Taking into account the close ties of the Azoulay family with France, which, at the instigation of its large, rich, and therefore electorally important Armenian diaspora, has now adopted an openly anti-Azerbaijani position, it is not surprising that the UNESCO Director-General has a pro-Armenian attitude. Unless, of course, we forget that such a high position obliges a lot, at least a minimum of objectivity and renunciation of one’s own preferences.
So who is Madame Azoulay? A Moroccan Jew, André Azoulay, Audrey’s father, is quite influential in Rabat – a financial advisor to King Mohammed VI of Morocco. Azoulay Sr. had previously advised Mohammed’s father, King Hassan II, and was in fact the country’s informal ruler for more than 40 years. Audrey’s mother, Katya Brami, whose Armenian roots are unquestionable, is considered a writer, although only two of her creations have seen the light of day. For many years, the family, lived in two countries: the father ruled in Morocco together with the king, and the mother and her three daughters, including Audrey, led a high life in Paris. And somehow this wealthy and seemingly quite cultured family is often involved in high-profile scandals, and both near-political and financial, and bohemian-creative. All these “secrets of the Moroccan palace” provide an answer as to how André Azoulay finds time in his busy schedule to head the department of international Armenians: he is the head of the Board of Presidents of one of the first and most influential Armenian charity organizations – Near East Foundation. Amazingly, the Foundation was created in 1915, the year of the Armenian “genocide” in Türkiye. It is also clear why Audrey Azoulay, as the director general of such an influential world organization as UNESCO, takes the liberty of directing its activities in such a biased and tendentious manner.
If we trace the trajectory of the rise of Audrey’s socio-political career, we can find a lot of interesting things. For example, she studied at the National School of Administration and the Paris Institute of Political Studies at the same time as current French President Emmanuel Macron. The French press nowadays often mentions this fact, moreover, the headline of one of the sensational articles reads: “Audrey Azoulay and her secret relationship with Macron.” It looks like truth, in any case after Macron was elected president in 2017, there was talk of appointing Audrey as prime minister since she had previously been minister of culture in the same government where Macron was economy minister. However, Azoulay did not become prime minister: first, the prospect of a more strategic appointment as director general of UNESCO loomed, and second, some people in France still detested Audrey’s Moroccan roots, especially since there were serious disagreements between the two countries at the time.
In general, Azoulay began her career in 2000 in the administration of Valerie Pecresse, an activist known for her pro-Armenian position and chairwoman of the Ile de France Council. Azerbaijani society remembers her for her illegal visit to Karabakh territory and heart-to-heart talks with Karabakh separatists. At first, Audrey practiced more and more in banking, but then she apparently got tired of it, and in 2003 she transferred to the financial department of the French cinema under the future president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Azoulay has been in charge of the French film business for several years, and it would later become clear that she got into cinema and in an executive position for a reason, but was driven by the “invisible hand” of global Armenians. But Audrey’s meteoric career growth does not end there, and in 2014 she was appointed Assistant Minister of Culture of France, and only two years later she was appointed Minister. According to the French media, her friendship with the friend of the then French President Francois Hollande, the actress Julia Gayet, contributed to this. Allegedly she once told the president: “Audrey is a very nice girl, we must find her a job”. And he did; in fact, these were the first steps of an apologist for Armenian interests in an international organization. Already when she was Minister of Culture, she was asked to head a project to “promote joint initiatives to protect cultural heritage in conflict zones”. Strange as it may seem, the project was adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council. Later it would become clear that even before she was appointed head of UNESCO, Azoulay was given the task of researching the protection of cultural heritage in conflict zones. The customers, understandably, were Armenians of France, who decided by all means to push Audrey for the post of UNESCO Director General.
Nevertheless, up to that moment, her ascent to the Olympus of career was not reprehensible – current and future presidents favored her, so what? Armenians, of course, made a contribution to her career. But then the “Godfather” of Audrey Azoulay’s political career – the “most influential” Armenian in France, Alain Terzian – appears on the scene. His real name is Andranik and he is a native of Armenia. The French media called him “a friend of stars and presidents”. And this is absolutely true. Terzian was the president of the Union of French Cinematographers for 26 years, he was the president of the French Film Academy, the director of the Cannes International Film Festival, the president of the French Cesar Film Academy, and other film and TV companies, studios and TV channels. That’s the secret of Audrey Azoulay’s “passion for filmmaking.” But Terzian also owns the hotel and casino chains Le Coultre, Dominique Dessen, and Barriere. It is clear that he is also a powerful Armenian lobbyist, in addition to being familiar with the entire French political establishment: he was friends with Mitterrand before his presidency, he has been a friend of Sarkozy for 30 years, and is a close friend of Macron. And it is Monsieur Alain who runs things in today’s cultural sphere of France: cinema, all kinds of art, show business – everything is under Terzian’s control.
And all this despite the fact that the only talent Terzian has is cheating, and his life’s work is to promote Armenian interests. And everything is nurtured in fierce hatred towards Turks and Azerbaijanis. He boasts of this at every opportunity. In his interviews, he speaks incessantly about the fictitious Armenian “genocide”, and tells that “his grandmother was buried alive by the Turks” and often visits Armenia. In an interview with Armenian media, Terzian was once frank: “Before coming to Yerevan, I met with the president of France. He’s a good man and loves Armenians and helps them. I must say France is the closest and friendliest country to Armenia. I am very optimistic about the future of Armenia”. Of course, he was just bragging, but the French presidents were indeed favoring him – the Armenians know how to be helpful and to give presents when necessary.
Let’s get back to Terzian’s ward Audrey Azoulay. Even from social media, it is clear that she owes her position as Director General of UNESCO to the lobbying skills of her patron Alain Terzian. It is impossible to find a single photo of Audrey with her husband François Labarraque, but thousands of sources tell about her collaboration with Alain Terzian, who is described by the French as a man who is willing to sacrifice his principles to achieve his goals.
So why did the unprincipled, but very clever and rich man of the French beau monde choose the daughter of the assistant to the King of Morocco as his protégé? Well, first of all, Azoulay Sr, like Terzian, revolves around movies and cultural events like festivals and forums. Advisor to the King of Morocco, Chairman of the Council of Presidents of the World Armenian Charitable Organization, co-founder of the Global Forum, and a close friend of the Rothschild family, he has for years been building a cultural bridge between Paris and the former French colony of Morocco. And who can help with this better than others? Of course, the “king of shows and demonstrations” – Alain Terzian.
Thanks to him, Audrey’s two sisters, her husband, and all her relatives in France entered the sphere of culture and entertainment. The French media sarcastically headlines like “The Cultural Family” constantly talk about this “family contract”. Younger sister Sabrina is the general director of the Paris Première rating program. The older sister of the director general of UNESCO, Judith, is heading a joint project of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the French Association for Artistic Creativity. Other relatives also benefit from various areas of French culture. Audrey’s husband, François-Xavier Labarraque, has also found a place in the cultural sector – he is president of Garum Conseil, a well-known provider of consulting services to film and show companies, and he also heads the cultural policy department at the University of Public Administration.
All in all, in this very French culture, the Armenian-Moroccan family is thriving and prospering. Director General Audrey, for example, paid for herself and her family a luxurious cruise to Venice using UNESCO funds earmarked for the cultural sector. After the truth came out, Azoulay became the subject of a corruption scandal. As it turned out, Audrey had instructed her assistant to arrange for her family’s expenses to be covered by her professional activities, and the UNESCO budget was used to pay for the family vacation boat, travel, hotels, and other expenses.
But Azoulay’s spending from the UNESCO budget for personal needs is apparently a trifle. We dare to assume that much more goes from this UN division to lobby Armenians at the international level, and Azoulay is just a tool of it. Thanks to Terzian’s influence and skill, even the famous Cannes International Film Festival became part of a lobbying campaign in favor of Armenia which involved the world’s film and show-business stars. They were given negative opinions about Azerbaijan and asked to voice them. This is how the statements of “French culture and showbiz figures” appeared, accusing Azerbaijan of aggression and xenophobia against Armenians. And Azoulay paid all this at the expense of UNESCO.
How else to explain that the day after Azerbaijan’s victory in the 44-day war, the famous newspaper “Le Figaro” published a list of French directors, writers, philosophers, actors, musicians, journalists, and singers, who signed an appeal full of hate and slander and supporting separatism in Karabakh? It expressed solidarity with Armenians, care about their fate in Karabakh, and mentioned the repetition of the so-called “genocide of 1915”, in general, it was a statement about alleged “treacherous plans” of Azerbaijan and Türkiye. Many French celebrities signed it. And persuading, bribing, and forcing others to speak with pro-Armenian ideas, while adding black color to everything about Azerbaijan is the main occupation of Alain Terzian and now Audrey Azoulay. Both of them are already forming the potential of hostility against Azerbaijan at a professional level, mobilizing specialized communication channels and agents of influence for this.
As for Audrey Azoulay, she is a true disciple of her patron. Even the seemingly routine distribution of international events by UNESCO, the UN agency, now takes place with the interests of Armenians in mind and in accordance with the instructions of the Armenian diaspora.
For example, Audrey decided to hold the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in Greece. And the “UNESCO World Book Year” in 2023 will be held in Strasbourg, whose mayor since 2013 is an Armenian, Jeanne Barseghian. As you can see, everything is very simple – it is enough to be Armenian or have an extensive Armenian diaspora for the UNESCO Director-General to grant the right to another event.
However, like everything else in this world, Andranik’s total influence is coming to an end. Alain Terzian’s 30-year dictatorship in the sphere of French culture seems to be finishing its last days. Already today, 400 representatives of French culture and art have called on the French President to put an end to Terzian’s “cultural” dictatorship. The appeal reflects the cultural degradation, the collapse of aesthetic taste, the politicization of culture, the pursuit of personal interests, lobbying, illicit enrichment, the blocking of talents, and much more. Everything that is happening today in French culture shows that, at last, the French bohemia is beginning to wake up. By the way, Terzian has already been suspended from chairing French festivals, but the networks he created will continue to resonate for a long time to come.
All this explains why despite the development of relations between Azerbaijan and UNESCO, the organization has not responded to Azerbaijan’s calls to investigate the destruction and desecration of its historical and cultural heritage by the Armenian occupants. It is obvious that UNESCO management never planned to include information about 65 mosques in Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur destroyed during the Armenian occupation and thousands of Azerbaijani cultural monuments ruined by Armenian occupants in its reports. In light of the above, it is not surprising that relations between Baku and UNESCO began to deteriorate in 2017, when Audrey Azoulay, a protégé of Andranik, became the head of the organization. Obviously, international Armenians are seriously concerned about the active, multi-faceted, and extremely effective activities of the First Vice President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva. Audrey and her patrons began to fear that their lobbying activities within the walls of UNESCO and their tricks to use the organization’s funds for the implementation of Armenian interests will become known to the world public.
In this context, it was not surprising that Mehriban Aliyeva stopped her activities as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. Azerbaijan is not involved in games, where rules are written by the likes of Audrey Azoulay and her handler Andranik. Baku has its own way, in which there is no place for double standards, but non-standard solutions are welcome.
Huseyn Safarov
Caliber.Az
