French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna announced this Sunday that she will visit Armenia on Tuesday amid tensions with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. She announced this in a short message posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-populated enclave located inside Azerbaijan, capitulated last week after facing a lightning offensive from Azerbaijan that left about 600 people dead. Since then, more than 100,000 Armenians from this mountainous region, under Azerbaijani sovereignty, have fled and taken refuge in Armenia.
The minister “will reaffirm France’s commitment to cooperation with Armenia” and “reaffirm France’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia, as well as its extreme vigilance in respecting them,” Quai d’Orsay said in a written statement.
The head of French diplomacy, who already visited Armenia on April 28, will be received by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
She will meet refugees
“Then she will go with her colleague Ararat Mirzoyan to the Armenian refugees who fled Nagorno-Karabakh after the military offensive launched by Azerbaijan on September 19 and nine months of illegal blockade (of the Lachin corridor) under the watchful gaze of Russian complicities,” the department adds.
Catherine Colonna, in particular, will explore “with the Armenian authorities concrete ways to strengthen our cooperation in all areas.” This week the minister announced an increase in aid to Armenia to 12.5 million euros.
“On September 29, emergency medical assistance was also transferred to the Armenian authorities, intended, in particular, to assist refugees and victims of the explosion of a fuel depot in Nagorno-Karabakh on the evening of September 25.”
Source: Le Parisien
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