Among the countries steadfast in their support of Macron’s France, Armenia stands in the front row. Just yesterday, nearly every Armenian media outlet enthusiastically reprinted a post from France’s Minister for Ecological Transition, Energy, Climate, and Disaster Prevention. In the post on her social media account on X, she announced that “after consultations and in agreement with the president and prime minister,” she had decided not to attend the successfully held COP29 in Baku. She cited “unjustified” comments by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “toward France and Europe at COP29’s opening” as the reason, calling it a “direct attack on our country, its institutions, and its territories.” She also accused Baku of using climate change efforts for “outrageous personal purposes,” declaring that “this will not go unanswered.”
Does Macron and his administration genuinely believe that with this defamatory statement from official Paris, Baku will tremble, and the participants at COP29, which has been impeccably organized and is already making vital decisions for the world, will collectively ask France to reconsider its decision?
It’s laughable to think that Macron’s France holds any significant global or even regional influence. All Paris’s attempts to rewrite history provoke are pity, tinged with sarcasm.
For decades, official Paris has supported and funded separatist ideologies within Azerbaijan, backing Armenian war criminals, even welcoming them at the highest levels. Members of the French government have openly visited Azerbaijan’s occupied territories, violating all norms and principles of international law, effectively endorsing Armenian terrorists’ criminal acts. And now they speak of a “direct attack” on France by Azerbaijan, supposedly for “personal reasons”?
Azerbaijan, as history has shown, never leaves actions that threaten its national independence and security unanswered—and never will. France should be aware of this by now, reviewing modern history through the lens of the South Caucasus and beyond. Azerbaijan stands among the foremost voices against neo-colonial policies of metropoles like France and the Netherlands, even in the 21st century. Azerbaijan, unwavering in its commitment to international law, has no intention of remaining silent and will continue to pressure countries that treat entire geographic regions as their property, robbing them and causing lasting ecological, financial, and moral damage.
It’s no coincidence that at COP29, the Baku Initiative Group (BIG) organized an international conference titled “Eco-colony: The Environmental Legacy of Colonial and Neo-Colonial Exploitation” at the Azerbaijan National Forum’s pavilion. The global community listened attentively as BIG shared its work on eradicating colonialism, exposing actions like resource exploitation, deforestation, soil contamination with chlorinated compounds, and forced monoculture in agriculture. Representatives of nations colonized by France and the Netherlands spoke with heart-wrenching accounts of the environmental devastation in their homelands, detailing France’s nuclear tests in French Polynesia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, New Caledonia, and the grave effects of toxic pesticide use.
A COP29 participant from Guinea shared the tragic history of genocide against the indigenous population due to European settlement, which eroded their culture, destroyed invaluable ecological knowledge, and devastated forests and biodiversity. Following these discussions, attendees demanded that France and the Netherlands meet the indigenous peoples’ demands fully.
In light of this, metropoles today would do well to heed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s remarks at the COP29 Leaders’ Summit on Azerbaijan’s intention, as the forum’s chair, to foster “consensus between developed and developing countries and strengthen relations between the Global South and the Global North.” But listening is not enough; there needs to be a shift in the perception of distant countries, no longer viewing them as second- or third-rate states. But are France and the Netherlands prepared for such a mental and ideological shift? And are the EU Commission, the European Parliament, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe ready to condemn France’s criminal actions? As President Aliyev pointed out at the Small Island Developing States Summit, these bodies’ failure to denounce such inhuman actions is “political hypocrisy.” And why should this surprise us when, according to Aliyev, the European Parliament and PACE have become “symbols of political corruption,” sharing responsibility with Macron’s government for the killing of innocents in their so-called “overseas territories”?
Rather than threatening Azerbaijan with some “response,” France’s president and government should instead be held accountable for their crimes, finding the courage to apologize to those who have suffered and continue to suffer under the yoke of colonialism. This would indeed be a manifestation of historical justice, with the crucial step being France and the Netherlands abandoning their colonial policies once and for all.
Teymur Atayev
