The Coordinating Council of French-Armenian Organizations (CCAF) issued a statement regarding Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev’s threats against Valerie Pecresse, the President of the Ile-de-France Regional Council of France and a candidate for the French presidency, Armenpress reported. 

Aliyev had stated that the Azerbaijan was unaware of Pecresse’s visit to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), and if they knew she was there, the Azerbaijani authorities would not have allowed her to leave Nagorno-Karabakh.

The CCAF called on the French authorities to demand an explanation and apology from Azerbaijan for making such terrorizing statements against a French presidential candidate, and added that the French government ought to recall its ambassador from Baku and expel the Azerbaijani ambassador from Paris if this explanation and apology are not issued by the Azerbaijani authorities.

Talking to the news media, Pecresse herself stressed the seriousness of making such threats against a presidential candidate, and noted that presidential candidates must be free to go wherever they want.

Pecresse said she does not feel intimidated by these threats, but that she is shocked by the French government’s silence regarding these threats.

The French politician said she would want the French government to officially respond to such threats voiced by the president of a foreign country to a French presidential candidate

Valerie Pecresse had visited Armenia and Artsakh December 21-23, 2021. The ex-foreign minister of France and former European Commissioner Michel Barnier as well as the head of the Republicans in the French Senate, Bruno Retailleau, had accompanied her during this visit.