Mayors of three major French cities - Paris, Lyon and Marseille - published a joint article in the Liberation newspaper with an appeal to impose sanctions against Azerbaijan: in connection with the closure of the Lachin corridor by the latter.

"The Republic of Artsakh, populated mostly by Armenians, became a victim of the blockade organized by the Baku regime, which is gradually strangling Armenians. The mayors of Paris, Lyon and Marseilles ask France and the European Union to respond as quickly as possible in support of Artsakh, with their clear actions.

Azerbaijan's militant policy towards the Republic of Artsakh gained new strength on December 12, when the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia was blocked by the efforts of official Baku. In addition, Baku also cut off the gas supply to Nagorno-Karabakh, thereby expressing its desire to strangle this small beleaguered republic in the South Caucasus. However, the consolidation of Western governments and, in particular, the position of the French cabinet prompted Azerbaijan to resume the gas supply and thus, fortunately, avoid a worsening of the situation on the eve of a cold winter.

However, the situation remains unacceptable and France cannot tolerate the continuous threat hanging over the heads of the 120,000 Armenians living in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (part of whose territory has been seized by Azerbaijan). France cannot leave them to the whims of dictator Ilham Aliyev, who has promoted a policy of Armenophobia for two decades.

The French Senate and National Assembly have recently called upon the French government to take structural measures.

In this context we urge the President of France to officially meet with the elected representatives of the Republic of Artsakh. At the same time we call for an unequivocal condemnation of the Baku regime that declared through its Foreign Minister that Azerbaijan will not hold any more negotiations on the Karabakh issue, in violation of the international commitments undertaken, in particular, in the statement of November 9, 2020.

We are also in favor of initiating a European policy of sanctions against Azerbaijan, similar to the one adopted against Russia, starting, for example, with freezing the assets of Azerbaijani leaders and oligarchs based in our country.

And since this regime is no longer willing to negotiate, we demand that France take a transparent stance on Nagorno-Karabakh, especially in terms of decentralized cooperation so that our regions, departments and cities could consolidate human, financial and material resources, like Paris, Lyon, Marseilles or other local governments, thus giving Artsakh a helping hand to restore numerous infrastructure destroyed as a result of constant conflicts.

We also look forward to France's participation in the reopening of Stepanakert Airport, an air bridge that will lessen the impact of the blockade and ease the lives of thousands of civilians whose only sin is to live on their land.

Firmly convinced that French diplomacy has a major role to play, we call on the French President and Foreign Minister to continue their efforts to establish lasting peace in the region and to ensure the application of the right of nations to self-determination, in accordance with international law.

And in the end, we hope that our country and the European Union will show more foresight in concluding cooperation and trade agreements with Azerbaijan. But most of all we are concerned about the initiative of Ursula von der Leyen to get gas from Baku, or rather, from Russia through Baku.

So that the financing of the conflict against the Republic of Artsakh wasn't condemned and our leaders didn't receive a harsh confrontation, that peaceful victims of armed conflicts, in this case Armenians, Ukrainians or Yemenis, weren't sacrificed on the altar of real politics", the article says.