ISTANBUL

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Friday criticized French political leaders, saying some of them were trying to be “more Armenian than the Armenians themselves.”

“However, they will also have to come to terms with this situation,” Aliyev told a government meeting in the capital Baku related to COP29.

Azerbaijan was announced as the host of next year’s climate summit after Armenia announced it supported Azerbaijan’s bid by withdrawing its own candidacy.

Indicating that certain Western countries made baseless allegations against Azerbaijan after the anti-terrorism operation in the Karabakh region in September, Aliyev said these accusations had “no basis whatsoever.”

He said Azerbaijan “secured the supremacy of international law” by conducting the operation against separatists in the region, adding that they restored sovereignty according to humanitarian norms.

“Certain Western countries, traditionally including France, of course, are not going to put up with that. However, the international community already sees that even Armenia has come to terms with this situation, and the decision to hold the COP29 conference in Azerbaijan is further evidence of that,” he added.

Last week, Armenia and Azerbaijan said they would exchange prisoners and work towards normalizing their relations, a breakthrough after three decades of conflict over the occupation of Karabakh.

Aliyev had criticized France earlier for a deal to supply arms to Armenia.