Two everywhere, ball in the middle. After learning that Baku was sending two French diplomats back to the country on Tuesday, the Quai d’Orsay decided to expel two Azerbaijani diplomats as a “reciprocity measure” this Wednesday.
Paris “categorically refutes the allegations presented by Azerbaijan to justify its decision” concerning the French diplomats, accused without further details of having carried out activities “incompatible with their status”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.
The day before, the French ambassador, Anne Boillon, had been summoned to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be notified of “a firm protest against the acts of two employees of the French embassy incompatible with their diplomatic status”, indicated Baku diplomacy in a press release, without further details. The two diplomats were expected to leave Azerbaijan within 48 hours.
The link with Armenia
In recent months, Azerbaijan has accused France of “destabilizing” the Caucasus by providing aid to Armenia, a rival of Baku of which it is a historical supporter.
In November, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev accused Paris of encouraging “new wars” by arming Yerevan.
Armenia and Azerbaijan maintain conflicting relations, notably because of Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist territory that Baku reconquered in September. The two neighbors had clashed during two wars for control of this enclave, one between 1988 and 1994 and the other in the fall of 2020. France, home to a large Armenian diaspora, has been involved in recent months in mediation between these two former Soviet republics, and has also shown its unwavering support for Armenia.