Meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Paris, Macron said Azerbaijani troops should withdraw from Armenian border areas seized by them during the two-day hostilities that broke out on the night from September 12-13.
“Since [Armenian army] positions were captured, France demanded that Azerbaijani forces return to their initial positions,” he told the press before the start of the talks with Pashinian at the presidential Elysee Palace. “I said that to President [Ilham] Aliyev right from September 14.
The fact that the border is not delimited does not justify advances into the territory of the other country. I have also said since September 13 that France believes recourse to force cannot be a solution for Armenia or Azerbaijan and that the dialogue must be reestablished without delay.”
“President Aliyev, to whom I will speak again in the coming hours, says that he too is willing to put an end to regional instability and strive for solutions. But one cannot build peace while threatening to use force,” stressed Macron.
Aliyev last week blamed Armenia for the hostilities and threatened it with further military action. “Nobody’s phone call, no statement or initiative will stop us,” he said.
Macron said he will discuss with Pashinian ways of “consolidating” the shaky ceasefire and preventing another escalation of the conflict. In that regard, he called for the resumption of high-level Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations mediated by the European Union.
The EU’s top official, Charles Michel, has hosted four trilateral meetings with Aliyev in Pashinian in the past year, most recently in late August.
Pashinian thanked Macron for condemning the Azerbaijani “aggression.” He also reiterated his stated readiness to sign a comprehensive Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty if Baku agrees to recognize Armenia’s current borders.
Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York last Thursday, Pashinian said that Baku is pushing for the kind of a treaty that would not prevent it from claiming or trying to occupy more Armenian territory. He also claimed that “the risk of a new Azerbaijani aggression remains very high.”
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov deplored Pashinian’s remarks in a subsequent speech delivered during a session of the assembly. He said they demonstrate that “the Armenian side intends to continue the confrontation instead of seeking normalization.”
On Saturday, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov ordered his troops to be ready to thwart more Armenian “provocations.” Hasanov issued a similar order three days before the outbreak of the recent border clashes which killed at least 280 soldiers from both sides.