The France-Azerbaijan Friendship Group, reformed in 2017 with the help of lobbyist Sihem Souid's Victory Capital & Advisory consultancy, was born with the idea of the Azerbaijani dictatorship extending its influence all the way to the French National Assembly, as it had succeeded in doing in the European Union, via the aptly named “caviar diplomacy”.
In 2017, the group had over twenty members, compared with eleven at the start of 2023, brought together with difficulty after the 44-Day War in 2020, and after the scandal caused by the former president of the France-Azerbaijan friendship group, Pierre-Alain Raphan, who had claimed 2.8 million euros from Azerbaijan for the formation of a pro-Azerbaijani association in France.
On September 29, 2023, Pierre Vatin, president of the France-Azerbaijan friendship group, declared that the group's activities were "suspended." In the context of the methodical implementation of Azerbaijan's genocidal policy and ethnic cleansing in Artsakh, it was undoubtedly not a good idea to be on Azerbaijan's side.
There is no doubt that this suspension decision was not motivated by Azerbaijan's criminal acts, but rather by the potential media fallout. As of October 2, 2023, the France-Azerbaijan friendship group's page only lists five members: Pierre Vatin, Guy Bricout, Meyer Habib, Hubert Julien-Laferrière, and André Villiers. Bertrand Sorre and Belkhir Belhaddad can also be added to these members. Leyla Abdulallyeva expressed her "warm thanks" to them in May 2023 for "a very rich exchange" following a meeting with Azerbaijani diplomatic staff and parliamentarians.
Earlier, on July 27, 2020, Guy Bricout, who had already shown his closeness to the pro-Azerbaijani lobbyist Grégory Herpe in 2019, denounced in the National Assembly "the bloody incursion led by Armenia near Tovuz".
On October 14, 2020, other French politicians sign an appeal not to “condone Armenian separatism”: Guy Bricout, Jean-Pierre Door, Alain Houpert, Michel Gourinchas, Jérôme Lambert, Jean-François Lambert, Jean-Luc Reitzer, Jean-Marie Tetard, Alain Vasselle and André Villiers. In 2021, French parliamentarians will visit Azerbaijan, including M'jid El Guerrab, Frédérique Dumas, Belkhir Belhaddad, Mustapha Laabid, Carole Bureau-Bonnard and Michel Delpon.
Since joining the France-Azerbaijan Friendship Group, its members have constantly called for a rapprochement between members of the French Parliament and those of the Azerbaijani dictatorship. This is obviously not insignificant, since this potential proximity would be a way for Azerbaijan to see its crimes whitewashed, just as they are when its culture and history are celebrated with its diplomatic representatives or affiliates. The last meeting between Pierre Vatin, his colleagues and the deputies of the Azerbaijani Parliament dates back to June 2023.
How can we believe in “regrets” when the 44-Day War, and Azerbaijan's previous rhetoric, have clearly demonstrated the genocidal intentions of the Aliyev regime? Why, when MP Dino Cinieri left the friendship group in June 2022, saying that “there can be no friendship with torturers”, did the other members not follow him? The members of the France-Azerbaijan friendship group are and remain members of the pro-Azerbaijan lobby.
Azerbaijan uses all available means and relays to obtain silence about its wars and crimes.
