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The Foreign Ministry of France has responded to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s recent criticism of French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments made in an interview with the France 2 TV station last week.

In his televised remarks on 12 October, Macron said “Azerbaijan launched a terrible war, with many deaths, atrocious scenes and has recaptured the territory” of Karabakh.

“More recentl, Azerbaijan has launched several offensives along the border [with Armenia] We have condemned them. We will not abandon Armenians,” he said.

Condemning Macron’s comments, Aliyev said the French government “has erased Paris’ history of having a friendly and balanced attitude toward Baku.”

“These comments in no way change France’s full commitment to making progress toward peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is thanks to the French president that the fourth quadripartite meeting with Charles Michel, President Aliyev, and Prime Minister Pashinyan was held on October 6 on the sidelines of the European Political Community’s first summit,” the Foreign Ministry said.

“This meeting brought us closer to this objective, as reflected in the statement adopted on that occasion. Furthermore, France fully supports the process that is under way with the EU to negotiate a peace treaty between the two countries,” it added.