On September 8, 2023, the Association for the Protection of the Heritage and Right of Return of Western Azerbaijanis (APPDRAO) was founded, 11 days before the start of the Azerbaijani offensive that would lead to the exile of Artsakh Armenians and ethnic cleansing.
The Association is co-created by Elshan Mamedov Asadovitch, born June 21, 1965 in Baku. In 2005, he founded the Russian authors' agency “The Independent Theatre Project Agency”, and still appears to teach at the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts in Moscow.
Elshan Mamedov also set up companies in France in the early 2000s, including Cinemedia and Bureau Théâtral International. His signature is similar to that on the APPDRAO articles of association.
APPDRAO's second co-founder is Zaur Nussrat oğlu Sadigbayli, born in Yerevan on September 16, 1976. He lives in Nice, France. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is currently a “legal advisor for private individuals”. Between 2001 and 2005, he was communications advisor to the Azerbaijan delegation to the Council of Europe. Moreover, as certain documents from the French company SARL Galant show, Zaur Sadigbayli was particularly incompetent.
Back in 2012, Zaur Sadigbayli was mentioned in an article in MalaysiaToday. At the time, he was the lover of Maira Nazarbayeva, ex-wife of the brother of former Kazakh dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev, who allegedly gave him power of attorney to buy a house in Nice worth $40,000,000.
Zaur Sadigbayli did not join the Azerbaijani propaganda machine in France until 2020. He then prepares a new propaganda narrative based on the so-called “Western Azerbaijanis”, in collaboration with the Azerbaijani Embassy in France.
This collaboration is hardly surprising, since Zaur Sadigbayli's brother is none other than Azerbaijani diplomat Rovshan Nussrat oğlu Sadigbayli, now Azerbaijan's ambassador to Austria and Slovenia!
There is no shortage of links between Zaur Sadigbayli and Azerbaijani lobbying entities in France. Launched in 2020 by the Azerbaijani embassy, it is taken up by Jean-Michel Brun and Musulmans en France, or by Günel Safarova's “Association scientifique ALIM”.
Wrongly described as a historian, Zaur Sadigbayli proposes revisions of the history of Azerbaijani Armenians, victims of pogroms in the late 1980s, at events organized by Azerbaijani entities in France, which he obviously keeps quiet about.
Later, clearly very well informed, he asserts on the Azerbaijani channel Baku TV that French intelligence services, “corrupted by the Armenian lobby”, hid from the Azerbaijani embassy that an “attack” was being prepared against it in September 2022.
As well as being interviewed by Azerbaijani government media such as Report.az, Trend and Azerbaycan24, Zaur Sadigbayli is also a guest on French media such as Sud Radio.
A member of the Conseil de Coordination des Azerbaïdjanais de France, Zaur Sadigbayli is now trying to mobilize at events such as the rally organized on January 13, 2024 to protest against the destruction of the statue of the poetess Natavan in Evian-les-Bains.
The creation of APPDRAO in September 2023 was discreet, only relayed by an APA.az article in November 2023. Nevertheless, it is highly likely that Zaur Sadigbayli will try to establish himself as a new Aliyev pawn in France.
Zaur Sadigbayli, an incompetent lawyer who was given power of attorney in a $40,000,000 purchase with money from a dictatorship, and brother of an Azerbaijani ambassador, will no doubt be banking in France on the new angle of Azerbaijani propaganda, “West Azerbaijanis”.
