Relations between Azerbaijan and France are intensifying. Baku accuses Paris of launching a “smear campaign”.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly criticized France for supporting Armenia.

“Azerbaijani side has repeatedly informed France that speaking in the language of threats and pressure will not bring any result, and reiterates that it will take all necessary measures to protect its national interests,” the press representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan stated.

French President Emmanuel Macron recalled Ambassador Anne Bouillon to Paris to discuss relations with Azerbaijan, the French Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.

The Azerbaijani government has rejected France’s possible role in the peace treaty negotiations with Armenia. Baku has also criticized arms deals between France and Armenia.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan stated that France has taken “open and unequivocal actions against Azerbaijan” and launched a “smear campaign” that has hindered “efforts to normalize relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”

Macron has expressed concern that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s territorial ambitions extend beyond Nagorno-Karabakh.

Yerevan and Baku have fought two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh – in 2020 and in the nineties of the last century. On September 19 of last year, Azerbaijan carried out a lightning offensive, which ended the next day with the actual capitulation of the authorities of the Armenian Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, which existed “de facto” for more than 30 years. After that, virtually all the Armenian population fled from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.