Azerbaijan summons French ambassador over Lachin road

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Azerbaijan on Thursday summoned the French ambassador to Baku over comments coming from Paris on the Lachin road, a land route which has seen tensions flare up with neighboring Armenia.

A diplomatic note was handed to the ambassador after French officials, including Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, accompanied vehicles sending "humanitarian cargo" toward the Lachin border checkpoint, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.​​​​​​​

The French officials also made provocative statements against Azerbaijan, the statement added.

Despite ongoing talks over a long-term peace agreement, tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia have heightened in recent months over the only road giving Yerevan access to the Karabakh region.

After winning the war in 2020 and liberating several cities in Karabakh, Azerbaijan established a border checkpoint on the Lachin road in April on the grounds of preventing the illegal transport of military arms and equipment to the region.

Thursday's Foreign Ministry statement called France's actions not only a direct interference in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs, but also an attack on the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The attempt to send goods to Azerbaijani territory without prior agreements with Baku runs contrary to “the international legal framework regarding the sending of international humanitarian aid,” it added.

“France has insisted on putting an end to the steps that are directed against Azerbaijan's sovereignty and territorial integrity protected by international law, and that endanger the fragile normalization process promoted by the active efforts of international actors in the region,” the statement concluded.