“France stands with your country because that’s where the camp of justice, independence, liberty and international law is,” Macron told Pashinian at the start of their meeting at the presidential Elysee Palace.
The two leaders were due to attend later in the day an official ceremony to induct Missak Manouchian, an ethnic Armenian hero of the French Resistance to Nazi occupation, into France’s national Pantheon. The burial was timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the execution of Manouchian and members of his Resistance group by the Nazis.
In a statement to the press, Macron said he will discuss with Pashinian the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and what he described as the lingering “risk of an escalation on the ground.” He called for a “just and lasting peace” between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“Azerbaijan should end any ambiguity -- this seems to me more necessary than ever before -- regarding its respect for the territorial integrity of Armenia and, in particular, any ambiguity regarding a reference map for working in good faith on the delimitation and demarcation of its borders [with Armenia,] which should also serve as the basis for a necessary mutual withdrawal of troops from the borders.”
Armenia insists on using the most recent Soviet military maps drawn in the 1970s. Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Union Council President Charles Michel backed this mechanism for the border delimitation in a joint statement with Pashinian issued last October.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev again rejected it in early January, saying that it favors the Armenian side. Aliyev also renewed his demands for Armenia to withdrawal from “eight Azerbaijani villages” and open an extraterritorial corridor to Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. Yerevan rejected the demands, saying that they amount to territorial claims to Armenia.
France, which is home to an influential Armenian community, has stepped up support for Armenia and criticism of Azerbaijan in recent years, prompting angry rebuttals from Baku. It initiated an emergency session of the UN Security Council right after Azerbaijan’s September military offensive in Karabakh condemned by key EU member states as well as the United States.
Macron said on Wednesday that Baku should comply with a November order by the International Court of Justice to ensure the security of Karabakh Armenians willing to return to the depopulated region. He also made clear that Paris “will continue our defense cooperation with Armenia.”
France became last October the first Western nation to sign major arms deals with Yerevan. Baku condemned those deals before expelling two French diplomats in December. Paris ordered the tit-for-tat expulsion of two Azerbaijani diplomats shortly afterwards.
Pashinian defended the French-Armenian military ties, saying that they are only aimed at helping Armenia protect its internationally recognized borders. “Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of all of its neighbors,” he stressed.