Aliyev said in a speech at the meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)'s Coordinating Bureau in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku that France continued interfering in internal affairs of its former colonies while falsely portraying itself as a defender of human rights.

"The recent withdrawal of French troops from Mali and Burkina Faso once again demonstrated that the outrageous neo-colonialism policy of France in Africa is doomed to failure. Unfortunately, France is trying to impose the same ill practice in the region of South Caucasus by supporting Armenian separatism in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan," he said.

The president argued that instead of trying to lecture other countries on tolerance Paris should deal with the "alarming tendencies" of racial and ethnic discrimination at home after the police killing of a teenager of Algerian descent led to a week of civil unrest all over France.

"Apology in front of millions of people whom his predecessors colonized, used as slaves, killed, tortured and humiliated will not only be a recognition of the historical guilt of France but also will help France to overcome the consequences of deep political, social and humanitarian crisis it is facing after the brutal killing of Algerian teenager," Aliyev said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-majority region wedged in between the two countries, where both have a military presence. The decades-long conflict reignited in fall 2020, marking the worst escalation since the 1990s. Hostilities ended in a Russia-brokered ceasefire and deployment of Russian peacekeepers to the region.