Relations between France and Azerbaijan, which were already severely damaged by Paris's support for Armenia, have further deteriorated during the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) on climate change, which has been held in Baku from Monday, November 11. Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the French environmental transition minister, announced on Wednesday that she would be canceling her trip to the major annual UN climate conference.
"The remarks made by President Aliyev at the COP29 against France and Europe are unacceptable. Azerbaijan is instrumentalizing the fight against climate disruption for an unworthy personal agenda," said the minister, during government question time in the Sénat. "After discussions and in agreement with the president of the Republic and the prime minister, I will not be going to Baku next week."
The situation escalated on Wednesday morning. In a speech to representatives of island states at the COP, Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, stepped up his attacks on "the regime of President Macron." "The list of France’s crimes in their so-called overseas territories would not be complete if we did not mention the recent human rights violations by the regime," he declared, before accusing French authorities of killing 13 people and wounding 169 "during this year's legitimate protest by Kanaks in New Caledonia." The autocrat from Baku reiterated his claim that France is a country that maintains "colonial rule" in its overseas territories and on the island of Corsica. Azerbaijan has, in recent months, stepped up its gestures of support for certain pro-independence figures in these areas.
The allegations by the Azerbaijani president were so harsh that they prompted a reaction from the European commissioner for climate action, Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra: "Regardless of any bilateral disagreements, the COP should be a place where all parties feel at liberty to come and negotiate on climate action," he wrote on social media platform X. "The COP Presidency has a particular responsibility to enable and enhance that," Hoekstra added, highlighting the"pivotal role" France had played in previous talks on combating global warming.
That morning, Aliyev also attacked the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, "two institutions that have become symbols of political corruption." The day before, Aliyev had taken advantage of the COP's political platform to defend fossil fuels as a "gift from God" and to attack the European Commission, which had allegedly asked him to "double the gas supply to Europe," after the 2022 energy crisis – in order to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, following the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin's regime.
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