Azerbaijan’s president urges countries with 'colonial past' to help small island nations in fight against climate crisis

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday called on former colonial powers to assist small island nations in the fight against climate change.

“I call all developed countries, especially (those) with a colonial past, to provide tangible financial and technical support to small island states, so that they can protect their countries from climate change complications,” Aliyev said at the Leaders’ Summit of the Small Islands Developing States on Climate Change held as part of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku.

He said that Azerbaijan’s ties with small island nations have elevated to a new high since it became the host of COP29, adding that his country has demonstrated “unwavering support” for such nations by providing assistance to a number of disaster-prone countries to mitigate the impact of natural disasters.

Aliyev said Azerbaijan provided financial and humanitarian assistance to more than 80 countries during its four-year chairmanship in the Non-Aligned Movement, stressing that addressing challenges faced by such countries in this regard is at the center of Baku’s efforts at COP29.

The Azerbaijani president also touched on the connection between neo-colonialism and climate change, saying that French and Dutch overseas territories in the Caribbean and Pacific are among the most severely impacted by climate change.

“Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and biodiversity loss create serious threats to these regions. The voices of these communities are often brutally suppressed by the regimes in their metropolises,” Aliyev said.

He said that the decolonization process of French Polynesia and New Caledonia is still delayed despite being recognized as non-self-governing territories by the UN.

“Between 1966 and 1996, French Polynesia faced serious environmental degradation due to 193 nuclear tests conducted by France. France is responsible for severe soil and water contamination and radiation there.

“If we add the 17 nuclear tests conducted by France in Algeria during the years of occupation, we will see what damage this country made to the ecosystem of the planet,” Aliyev also said.

He went on to recall recent riots in French overseas territories, including those in New Caledonia where 13 were people earlier this year, and accused the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) of “political hypocrisy” for not denouncing actions taken by the French government.

He also recalled remarks from EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in October 2022 calling Europe a “garden” and the rest of the world a “jungle,” adding: “If we are jungles, then stay away from us, and don’t interfere into our affairs.”