Something is terribly wrong when Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan makes constant concessions to Azerbaijan, while French Ambassador to Armenia Olivier Decotignier defends Armenia's interests. Surprisingly, the foreign ambassador is more pro-Armenian than the Prime Minister of Armenia.
When Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev repeated his lies about the non-existent "Western Azerbaijan" instead of the Republic of Armenia, Pashinyan shamefully equated the fake "Western Azerbaijan" with the historical claim of the Armenian people for "Western Armenia". On November 24, 2024, it was the French ambassador who responded to Aliyev on the X social network.
"The only and unique. West Azerbaijan is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, the capital and largest city of which is Urmia," quoting from Wikipedia. He attached a map of Iran showing the location of Iran's West Azerbaijan province.
The post has been viewed more than 93,000 times, with 114 comments and 1,100 likes. The Armenian with the pseudonym "Nemesis Melkonyan" praised the French ambassador in X. "Can you become our next prime minister? the current one is an ethnic Turk." An Iranian answered. "As an Iranian", adding the hand sign "OK" According to some Armenian commentators, this was a slap to Aliyev, but also a reproach to Pashinyan.
On the same day, the French ambassador also posted a photo of the famous Blue Mosque in Yerevan and wrote: "A symbol of Armenia's Persian heritage in the gardens of the Blue Mosque of Yerevan". This post has been viewed 43,000 times with 46 comments and 660 likes.
While Azerbaijani commentators have falsely claimed that the Blue Mosque is of Azerbaijani origin, many others thanked the French ambassador for showcasing this historic Persian place of worship.
The Iranian Embassy in Armenia expressed its gratitude to the French Ambassador by posting in X. "The Blue Mosque, which is a symbol of Iranian art, has become active again in the last three decades as a prayer and gathering place for Muslims living in Armenia and an interesting tourist destination. It is a great pleasure that its centuries-old Persian epigraphy has been preserved.
Who can read them..." The embassy then added some images of Persian calligraphy found on the walls of the mosque. Mordechai Kedar, an Israeli pnakalez, wrote an article in the Jerusalem Post on December 5, 2024. with the title "The French ambassador caused outrage regarding the support of Persian domination in Armenia". This is nothing but pure pro-Azerbaijani propaganda.
Kedar wrote, "Azeris are outraged by these social media posts, because the Blue Mosque in Yerevan was built by Azerbaijanis, and the attempt to present the mosque as 'Persian' shows France's support for Persian colonialism in the region."
Moreover, Azerbaijanis are angry with the French diplomat's attempt to present West Azerbaijan as part of Iran. If the Azerbaijanis were upset by the French ambassador's writing, what is Kedar's business, if, of course, he does not expect to gain something by volunteering as a propagandist for Azerbaijan?
Kedar stated that the Armenians characterized the Blue Mosque as Persian in order to "erase all traces of Azerbaijani heritage from their country [Armenia]". Kedar ignores the fact that Azerbaijanis destroyed thousands of Armenian historical monuments and churches in Artsakh and Azerbaijan.
Making a more outrageous statement, Kedar writes that the Persians "used these acts of Armenian delegitimization to expand their colonial influence in the South Caucasus." Accumulating attacks on Armenia and France, Elnur Enveroglu wrote on the Azernews website that the notes of the French ambassador "reveal the ignorance of Dkotierni's history".
Elnur couldn't even spell the ambassador's last name correctly. Naturally, the French ambassador could not leave such nonsense unanswered by Kedar, whose childish arguments embarrassed the Jerusalem Post. The ambassador replied: "Really, Mr. Kedar? The Blue Mosque of Yerevan was built under Persian rule, in typical Persian style.
Is calling a Roman aqueduct Roman a support for colonialism?" Although there was no reason for the Azerbaijani ambassador to Germany, Nasimi Aghayev, to poke his nose in this matter, but being a falsifier of the truth throughout his life, starting from the days when he was the consul general of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles, he wrote: "The beautiful Azeri blue mosque in Yerevan.
It was built in 1766 by the ruler of Azerbaijan, Huseyn Ali Khan of Iravan [Yerevan] Khanate. The only mosque preserved in Armenia, all others (at least 269) were destroyed. "Unfortunately, Armenia continues to deny the Azeri identity of the Blue Mosque." The user "Mary Hogins" rightly responded to Nasimi in his tweet. "Do you mean the Persian mosque, you liar?"
Nasimi probably forgot that there was no such country as Azerbaijan until 1918. Even then, the Secretary General of the League of Nations rejected Azerbaijan's application to be recognized as a state in 1920. writing an official memorandum.
"This territory, which covers an area of 40,000 square miles, seems never to have been a state, but has always been included in the larger groups, Mongol or Persian, and since 1813, in the Russian Empire, which has been newly chosen for the republic, it is also the name of the neighboring Persian province.
That's it. With his fanaticism, Aliyev does not seem to understand that his constant attacks on France, based on lies, do not bode well for Azerbaijan.
France is a superpower and Azerbaijan is a banana republic that doesn't even have bananas and is ruled by a worthless dictator...
Harut Sassounyan
Translation: Ruzanna Avagyan
