The pro-Armenian sentiments prevailing in the Élysée Palace is nothing new. However, the news that President Emmanuel Macron is not only reporting to Mourad Papazian, Chairman of the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France and a prominent figure of the Dashnaktsutyun party, but also offers one of the leaders of Armenian nationalists his services “to resolve Karabakh and Armenian problems in general” goes beyond all accepted boundaries.
This is not high politics, but a cross between a bistro and a dukhan…
We are talking about that very Mourad Papazian, a militant and crime boss, who was declared an undesirable person by a decree of Nikol Pashinyan’s government and forbidden to enter the territory of the Republic of Armenia.
Does Emmanuel Macron realize that by demonstrating so clearly his dependence on the chairman of the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF), he is, to use military slang, shooting himself in both feet? Of course he does! But he cannot do otherwise, since the CCAF, as well as other Armenian diaspora organizations, funded Emmanuel Macron’s election campaign and played an important role in the outcome of the presidential election.
As a result, the incumbent president of the Fifth Republic is not just openly sympathetic to the leaders of the Armenian community in France, he is highly conscientious in earning the Armenian investments in him.
Suffice it to recall how, amid the wave of protests and pogroms that swept France because a police officer killed a 17-year-old boy of Algerian origin, Macron flew to Marseille to meet with representatives of that city’s Armenian community, to whom he said the following.
“I have put and will continue to put more pressure on Ilham Aliyev than Nikol Pashinyan himself… I am the only one who has a clear position and message on the Karabakh issue. Do not doubt my determination regarding Karabakh and Armenia in general. I will continue my efforts, even if I am almost the only one in the international family with this agenda”.
It is striking that in voicing his positions and intentions, the usually hypocritical and inconsistent Macron is telling the absolute truth this time: the French president is indeed “almost alone” in his “vision” for peace in the South Caucasus, and he is indeed fighting for Karabakh and Armenia with a tenacity, drive and resourcefulness that would surely put the defenders of the legendary Maginot Line to shame.
In particular, at the pentalateral meeting in Chisinau, held as part of the second summit of the European political community, with the participation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, European Council President Charles Michel, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and President Emmanuel Macron, the French leader once again attempted to seize the initiative and issue a statement on behalf of all summit participants. Only President Ilham Aliyev’s tough stance forced Macron to abandon the idea. Upon his return to Paris, Macron nevertheless disseminated this statement. However, this gesture looked helpless, illustrating the advice to cocky brawlers not to swing their fists after the fight.
Yet reports in some media affiliated with the Armenian lobby in France claimed that immediately upon his return from Chisinau Macron contacted Papazian, telling him that he, the French president, was the only one who defended Armenia’s interests in Chisinau, while neither Scholz nor Charles Michel made a sound.
The Élysée Palace neither confirmed nor denied this information, which nevertheless clearly reflects not only Macron’s hostile policy towards Azerbaijan, but also the willingness of the French president to “frame” his European Union partners to serve his personal interests.
In Chisinau, in the absence of representatives from the United States and the “Brexited” UK, Macron behaved brazenly, like the leader of a superpower, whose opinion should not only be listened to with respect, but accepted and implemented unconditionally. But when it was made clear to the French president that the peace process in the South Caucasus was the responsibility of Brussels, not Paris, Macron thought of nothing better than to hypocritically ignore the Brussels platform and Charles Michel’s efforts, recognized and supported by both Azerbaijan and Armenia.
To be fair, it should be noted that at the EU summit in Chisinau both Chancellor Scholz and Charles Michel, and even Nikol Pashinyan acted responsibly and with poise. Against this background, President Macron’s impulsive behavior looked highly unprofessional and shocked the participants. As one western journalist wrote in his report on the summit, “…in Chisinau Macron twice broke the golden rule of diplomats: ‘Think thrice before you say nothing’. Alas, the French president did neither.”
It is worth mentioning that before the Chisinau summit Macron did not flaunt his “concept” of the solution to the regional conflict. Since there were no meetings on the Armenia-Azerbaijan track for quite a long time after the EU summit in Prague, Macron, who organized the EU mission to Armenia, acted as a responsible political leader focused on strengthening peace in the region. However, the subsequent course of events showed that Macron’s peacemaking initiatives and efforts were a soap bubble. Consequently, the French leader’s “peace initiatives” to resolve the South Caucasus crisis, where Macron was only interested in Armenia’s priorities, weakened that country even more, driving the smoldering Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, ready to erupt with renewed force at any moment, to the brink of Syrianization.
France’s arrogant policy toward its former and current overseas dominions, its adherence to neocolonialism, its outright Islamophobia, as well as everything that has happened in France during Macron’s presidency, including political chaos, out of control social and political processes, violence against civil society activists and members of the media, show that Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frederic Macron, 46, a politician with the manners of a civilized dictator, does seem to see himself as Napoleon. Alas, what distinguishes the current master of the Élysée Palace from the great Corsican is his pettiness, his lack of discernment in the choice of friends and partners, and, above all, the total absence of the famous Gallic dignity so convincingly and vividly rhapsodized by Alexandre Dumas. President of the great French Republic cannot speak in public with such an obvious Armenian accent.
Even for a lot of money.
Aydin Kerimov
Translated from Haqqin.az
