The resolution also condemns Azerbaijan for its attack on Armenia’s sovereign territory in September, calling on Baku to withdraw its troops from Armenia, and reaffirms the Senate’s 2020 resolution calling on the French government to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh. It also calls for guarantees that the status of the Lachin corridor, which links the region with Armenia, will remain unchanged.
“We call on the government to consider, together with European allies, the means of giving the strongest and most adequate response to the new Azerbaijani attacks, including confiscation of the property of Azerbaijani leaders and the possibility of placing a ban on the import of Azerbaijani gas and oil,” the document reads.
The French Senate also asks the French government to consider the issue of setting up a humanitarian office in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as “to show Paris’ support to Yerevan by all means”, considering “the strengthening of Armenia’s defense capabilities.”
Olivier Becht, France’s Foreign Trade Minister who was representing the country’s foreign minister at the Senate debate, did not raise objections to the adoption of the resolution. But he also did not clarify whether the government would take the way of imposing sanctions. “No country in the world does more to support Armenia,” he said.
The debate on the resolution in the French Senate in Paris was accompanied by a protest organized by representatives of the local Azerbaijani community and its passage predictably sparked condemnations in Baku.
By contrast, ethnic Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh swiftly welcomed the resolution in France. Also, a group of Karabakh Armenians organized a rally in front of the French embassy in Yerevan on Tuesday afternoon in support of the French Senate’s move.