According to Azerbaijani media reports, France dispatched a “significant number” of Bastion armored personnel carriers (APCs) and related equipment to Armenia via Georgia.
Some photographs as well as video footage purportedly showing the unloading and storage of APCs and spare parts for them at the Georgian sea-port of Poti were published by Azerbaijani media over the weekend.
Official Yerevan has not yet commented on these reports.
Meanwhile, in his statement Aykhan Hajizade charged that the transfer of military equipment “only bolsters Armenia’s military potential and its ability to carry out destructive operations in the region.”
“France pursues wrong interests in the region. Armenia and France must discontinue their policy of armament and militarization in the region. These countries need to realize at last that there is no alternative to peace and cooperation in the region,” the Azerbaijani official added.
Late last month Armenia and France signed a number of agreements on cooperation in the military sphere. French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu confirmed that Paris would be delivering three GM200 radars and Mistral missiles to Yerevan as part of those deals. According to French officials, Paris will also help Armenia modernize its military.
Authorities in Yerevan have so far not disclosed any information regarding the receipt of French weapons.
Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to France Leyla Abdullayeva last week confronted Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian during a panel discussion held as part of the Paris Peace Conference also on the issue of French military supplies to Armenia.
Pashinian replied, in particular, by saying: “Every sovereign country has the right to have an army and acquire weapons… Azerbaijan also buys a huge amount of weapons. Azerbaijan’s budget for acquiring weapons is three times more than that of Armenia.”
Armenia’s Ambassador-at-Large Edmon Marukian echoed Pashinian’s statement when he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Monday that “any acquisition of weapons is Armenia’s fundamental right” and that “Yerevan will purchase weapons from whatever country it will be possible for self-defense.”
“Naturally, these weapons do not have an aggressive purpose, these weapons have a defensive purpose, and this is a fundamental right of Armenia and it must be exercised, it has been exercised, it will be exercised and it is being exercised right now. Therefore, such statements by Azerbaijan are simply surprising,” Marukian said.
In Paris Pashinian again voiced a hope for a peace accord with Azerbaijan in the coming months if the latter “reaffirms the three principles that have already been agreed upon.”
In his speech earlier at the conference the Armenian leader outlined the principles, including mutual recognition of each other’s Soviet-era borders, a corresponding mechanism for delimitating the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier and agreement that future transport arrangements in the region will respect the principles of “sovereignty, jurisdiction, reciprocity and equality of all countries.”
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