French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday discussed the recent escalation of tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in a phone call with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, TASS reported, citing the Azerbaijani presidential office. The phone talk took place at the initiative of the French side.
"Emmanuel Macron expressed concern over the recent escalation of tensions in the region, stressing the importance of maintaining dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the implementation of the provisions of the November 10, 2020 trilateral statement. He said that France is ready to support the continuation of the dialogue between the two countries," the statement said.
In his turn, Aliyev provided Macron with false information about the August 3 ceasefire violation, concealing the large-scale attack on the Artsakh military positions by the Azerbaijani troops. The Defense Army of the Artsakh Republic inflicted losses on the enemy while defending the line of contact. Aliyev falsely claimed that the offensive had been launched by the Artsakh defense forces.
Aliyev also assured Macron that Armenia had not withdrawn its troops from Artsakh, whereas the last conscripted soldiers had been demobilized from Artsakh before the Azerbaijani attack on August 3.
The Azerbaijani readout of the phone call makes it clear that the two discussed the implementation of the clauses of the November 9 trilateral statement which Azerbaijan is interested in, whereas it makes no mention of the return of prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons envisaged by the statement. Judging by the Azerbaijani statement, Macron probably forgot to address the matter as well.
The Azerbaijani leader also stated that according to an agreement reached with the Russian Defense Ministry in accordance with the trilateral statement of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, the alternative route to the Lachin corridor has been determined and Azerbaijan is completing the road construction.
However, the November 9 trilateral statement says nothing of the sort. Clause 6 of the statement reads: “The Lachin corridor (5 km wide), which will provide a link between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia and at the same time will not affect the city of Shushi, shall remain under the control of the peacekeeping troops of the Russian Federation. The parties have agreed that a plan for the construction of a new route along the Lachin corridor shall be determined within the next three years, providing communication between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, with the subsequent redeployment of Russian peacekeeping troops to protect this route.”
Some statements suggest that in addition to the signed documents there were also verbal agreements, but in international relations, especially when it comes to such sensitive issues, they cannot serve as a basis for conflict settlement.