French presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse calls on Azerbaijan to unconditionally return 51 Armenian captives
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YEREVAN, DECEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France Valérie Pécresse calls for unconditionally returning 51 Armenian captives held in Azerbaijan.
At a press briefing with Armenian and French reporters in Yerevan, she said that what happened with Armenia in 2020 by Azerbaijan’s and Turkey’s initiative was an important warning to Europe, Armenpress correspondent reports.
Mrs Pécresse also said that during her visit in Armenia she met with President Armen Sarkissian, Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan. “During those meetings we talked about the 2020 war. I expressed my full solidarity with the Armenian people in overcoming this difficult trial”, she said, recalling that since November 2020 both Île-de-France and the French Senate have come up with a number of initiatives aimed at adopting resolutions on recognizing Nagorno Karabakh.
According to her, the French government has also clearly stated that the responsibility of that war fully falls on Azerbaijan, as the latter has unleashed the war together with Turkey and also with the support of several Syrian jihadists.
“I think that what happened in Armenia was an important warning to Europe, and it would be very wrong by our side to underestimate its importance and think that what had happened doesn’t threaten us because the history of Europe is full of lessons that dangers have risen when they have been underestimated”, Valérie Pécresse said.
Valérie Pécresse serves as the President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since December 18, 2015. She is running for president. The French presidential elections will take place in April 2022.