Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev lashed out, on Wednesday, November 13, at France's alleged "crimes" in its overseas territories like New Caledonia, in the latest diplomatic spat between the two countries.
The authoritarian leader, who is hosting the COP29 UN climate talks in Baku, drew loud applause from delegates of some Pacific island nations after a combative speech, in which he lambasted Paris over the bloody protests that rocked New Caledonia in May. "The crimes of France in its so-called overseas territories would not be complete without mentioning the recent human rights violations," said Aliyev. "The regime of President (Emmanuel) Macron killed 13 people and wounded 169 (...) during legitimate protests by the Kanak people in New Caledonia," he added.
Relations between Paris and Baku have become very frosty, over France's longtime support for Azerbaijan's arch-rival Armenia, which it defeated in a lightning offensive last year, when it retook the breakaway Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh – leading to an exodus of more than 100,000 Armenians.
This year, Paris accused Azerbaijan of interfering in its domestic politics by stoking tensions in its overseas territories and dependencies, including the Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia. Macron has also stayed away from COP29.
Azerbaijan has denied interference, but Aliyev, on Wednesday, rounded on France for holding Corsica and its far-flung overseas island territories "under the colonial yoke."
Aliyev has ruled his gas-rich country with an iron fist for more than two decades since the death of his father, Azerbaijan's Soviet-era Communist leader and former KGB general Heydar Aliyev. In the run-up to the climate summit, Azerbaijan was widely denounced for its human rights record and repression of the opposition.
Yet Aliyev hit back at the European Union and the Council of Europe human rights body calling them "symbols of political corruption that share responsibility with the government of President Macron for the killings of innocent people." He also said that "all political prisoners of France must be liberated."
Aliyev accused EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell of having compared the rest of the world to a jungle, while Europe was a garden. "If we are the jungles," he declared, "then stay away from us and don't interfere in our affairs."