PARIS (RFE/RL) — French President Emmanuel Macron again demanded that Azerbaijan withdraw its troops from Armenia’s border areas when he met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Paris on Tuesday, June 1.
Macron also called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to demarcate their border through negotiations and without “any fait accompli on the ground.”
“The Azerbaijani troops must leave Armenia’s sovereign territory,” he said after greeting Pashinyan at the presidential Elysee Palace. “I am calling on the parties to return to the positions held by them on May 11. France is ready to facilitate discussions.”
“We stand in solidarity with Armenia and we will continue to do so,” he added in a statement to the press made before a lunch meeting with Pashinyan.
Macron was quick to voice strong support for Yerevan after Azerbaijani forces reportedly crossed several sections of the border and advanced a few kilometers into Armenia’s Syunik and Gegharkunik provinces on May 12. “They must withdraw immediately,” he tweeted after a May 13 phone call with Pashinyan.
The U.S. State Department similarly urged Azerbaijan to “pull back all forces immediately and cease further provocation” on May 14.
