Over six dozen senators, MPs and representatives of territorial bodies representing the political left of France, including Patrick Kanner, Chairman of the Socialist Group in the Senate, Éliane Assassi, Chairman of the Communist, Republican, Citizen and Ecologist Group, Guillaume Gontard, Chairman of the Ecologist Group, Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Marie-Arlette Carlotti, Head of the France-Armenia Interparliamentary Friendship Group Gilbert-Luc Devinaz and others appealed to the French government to provide practical support to [Artsakh] Nagorno-Karabakh, "Armenpress" reports.

“In this turbulent time, when unrests intensify in the world, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is still striving not only to survive, but also to embody in the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) the democratic values that we understand as our own. However, we do not take a step forward, we do not help it in the face of the attempts of ethnic cleansing that it is subjected to by Azerbaijan. With every outburst of world news, the most recent example of which is the Prigogine case, Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev is taking advantage of our other distractions, as well as our guilty indifference, to further increase his lethal hold on this Armenian territory.

Since June 15, having finally abandoned the fable of free movement along the [Berdzor] Lachin Corridor connecting Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, and strengthening the blockade that has been in place since December 12, 2022, Ilham Aliyev has installed concrete barriers that forever block all communications.

In today's expanded Europe, this is a "New Berlin Wall" that promises starvation to one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh. Do we, like our republican colleagues, have to repeat that Baku's actions contradict the most basic principles of international law? Do we still need to remind that Azerbaijan violates its own commitments and the terms of the November 2020 ceasefire every day?

Do we need to remind again that this rogue state is putting itself under international ban by mocking the ICJ ruling of February 22, 2023, which orders it to immediately restore free movement between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh? Finally, should we point out that the executive government has a clear mandate to act in accordance with the resolutions adopted by the Senate on November 15, 2022, and the National Assembly on November 30, 2022, which gives it freedom to initiate economic sanctions and policies against the Baku regime and provide decisive operational support to the Armenians?

Current events show that France knows how to punish whoever it wants, when it wants, even in the case of powerful Russia. Current developments show that we also know how to deploy our forces on the border with Moldova. Not listening to our repeated calls in favor of Nagorno-Karabakh, not consolidating our decisive measures in its favor, means being an accomplice of Azerbaijan.

President Emmanuel Macron has announced that Armenian resistance fighter Missak Manouchian will enter the French pantheon on February 21, 2024, eighty years after his execution. We can only welcome this decision, which in the person of Manouchian also marks the commitment of hundreds of people without citizenship and rejected by any country: Armenians, Jews, Spanish republicans, Italian anti-fascists and many others, to serve for the benefit of the values of freedom, humanity and brotherhood, which are the values of the French Republic. But this righteous gratitude should not turn into a farce that serves as a barrier that allows Armenians to remain alone in order to rebuke the current authoritarian and autocratic Azerbaijani regime.

Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh is on the verge of destruction. Nagorno-Karabakh, which in the South Caucasus represents what we claim to embody, deserves more than a careless glance. It simply deserves respect for its citizens' right to self-determination. It justifies the role and activities of France in the region, confirms the legitimacy of the actions of our country, and the occupation established by force cannot under any circumstances cast doubt on its existence.

In his famous farewell letter to his wife Melina, Missak Manouchian wrote: “At the time of my death, I declare that I have no hatred for either the German people or anyone else. Everyone will get what they deserve, in the form of punishment or reward. The German people and all other peoples will live after the war in peace and brotherhood, which will not last long.

We ask Emmanuel Macron to impose sanctions against Ilham Aliyev and his criminal group, without harboring hatred towards the people, so that Armenians and Azerbaijanis can finally coexist in peace and brotherhood in this South Caucasus, where they live side by side," says the letter of the French legislators.