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Collaborating with the town of Shushi of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, French Bourg-lès-Valence is a quiet town located in the Drôme department in southeastern France.It is a picturesque town, known for the Saint-Pierre cathedral, its 600-seat theatre, and the Château des Confolens that dates back to 1091, French website the Local.frwrites. http://www.thelocal.fr/20160422/french-village-at-heart-of-diplomatic-spat-with-azerbaijan.

“But on Thursday, trouble brewed in Bourg-lès-Valence with the surprise arrival of a court bailiff from Azerbaijan who was looking to have a few words with the mayor and to give her a summons,” the website reports.

It is noted that Azerbaijan is troubled because ever since 2014, Bourg-lès-Valence has been building up strong friendship and cultural links with the town of Shushi of the NKR.The mayor of Boug-les-Valance MarlèneMourier has visited Shushi twice to meet local officials.

Citing the French newspaper France Bleu, the author emphasizes that the bailiff's visit was an attempt to get the French town to cut ties with Shushi and to forbid French officials from ever visiting.

The move, however, appears to have had the opposite effect.Mayor Mourier dismissed "attempt at intimidation by a foreign state on French territory."

"We continue to have friendly relations with this city, and the friendship charter will be maintained. In fact, all this reinforces my determination. This says a lot about the methods of a repressive regime that wants to stifle dissent. But here we are in France!" she told Le Figaro.

She later tweeted: "The dictator Aliev doesn't intimidate me!"