French Ambassador rebukes Azeri official about Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians’ right to return

YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS. French Ambassador to Armenia Olivier Decottignies has reacted to a statement made by the Azeri envoy to the Netherlands by reminding the latter about the binding ICJ rulings, including the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians’ right to return. 

“Mr. Ambassador, there is no legal term ‘good guys’ as you mentioned. The Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh bear the rights recognized by the International Court of Justice, starting from the right to return. And the court’s rulings are binding,” Decottignies said on X in response to a statement by Rahman Mustafayev, the Azeri Ambassador to the Netherlands, who claimed that Nagorno-Karabakh didn’t fall, but is rather undergoing a ‘revival’ and obtaining prospects of developments, and if Armenians are the “good guys” they will be able to benefit from these prospects. 

M. l'Ambassadeur, en droit il n'y a pas de "bons garçons", comme vous dites. Les Arméniens du Haut-Karabagh sont titulaires de droits, reconnus par la Cour internationale de justice, à commencer par le droit au retour. Et les décisions de la Cour ont un caractère obligatoire. pic.twitter.com/IUAlLBoEUX

— Olivier Decottignies (@O_Decottignies) July 28, 2024

The Azeri envoy’s statement was made in response to the France public television broadcast of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games opening ceremony, shared on X by Decottignies, where the France 2 TV reporter called Armenians "our friends" and said that Nagorno-Karabakh had recently "passed into the hands of the Azerbaijani Army." 

“Armenia, our Armenian friends, a country historically close to the hearts of the French,” the French 2 commentator said when Team Armenia was introduced during the Parade of Nations. “A year when…Nagorno-Karabakh passed into the hands of the Azerbaijani Army.”