France rules out recognition of "Nagorno-Karabakh" as independent authority

By Sara Rajabova - AzerNews 

Paris has ruled out the recognition of the separatist regime in Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Thierry Mandon, the secretary of state under French minister for higher education and research representing the government said France never recognized Nagorno-Karabakh either as an independent authority or part of Armenia.

He responded to a question from deputy chair of the France-Caucasus Friendship Group and France-Azerbaijan working group at the French Senate, Senator Nathalie Goulet on a visit of the so-called president of unrecognized separatist regime in Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Saakyan to France, AzerTac state news agency reported.

“France is a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group and plays the role of a mediator in resolving the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We do not recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh and don't have any bilateral relations with the regime,” Mandon said.

Noting that the issue is much more complicated from political and legal points of view, he said the French government regrets the initiative of local communities.

A number of French local communities have inked so-called charters of friendship with the local communities of the unrecognized “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.” The 'charters' were inked during the visit of Saakyan to France on May 18-20.

“The signing of the ‘charters’ of friendship is illegal in accordance with Article L. 1115 of the Code of Local Communities. It is obvious that this step is contrary to international obligations of France, which does not recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Mandon said.

He further assured that France, as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, remains fully mobilized for the peaceful solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“I would like to express my confidence that our relations with Armenia do not and will never affect the traditionally neutral position of France within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group," Mandon added.

France, alongside with the United States and Russia mediates for peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have been largely fruitless so far. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.