On November 2, 2024, the Azerbaijani Embassy in France organized “Victory Day” at the Salle Cortot in Paris. For the representatives of Aliyev's dictatorship in France, this event was intended to celebrate Azerbaijan's military victory in November 2020, and the “liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh”, i.e. the ethnic cleansing of the region of its thousand-year-old Armenian population (which took place in September 2023 following a 9-month blockade).
The audience was made up of “members of the diplomatic corps accredited in France, representatives of political, cultural, artistic and associative circles, notably those of the Association Dialogue France-Azerbaïdjan, journalists, as well as members of the local community and the Azerbaijani diaspora”. Among them were former French ambassador to Azerbaijan Jean-Pierre Guinhut, journalist Joël Ranc, and former minister and Comoros presidential candidate Achirafi Said Hachim. One question remains: why did these people join in the celebration of a bloody, racist and nationalist regime?
Another important question: how could a renowned Parisian concert hall host such an event? Let's not forget that, in addition to being a dictatorship that murders journalists and opponents, and is responsible for ethnic cleansing as well as cultural genocide, Azerbaijan is still today fully committed to a policy of destabilization aimed directly at France.
How could the Salle Cortot allow its diplomatic representation to celebrate such an important event, as if to reward Ilham Aliyev's lackeys, without questioning its symbolic and political implications?
The Salle Cortot belongs to the École Normale de Musique de Paris - Alfred Cortot, and was founded in 1919. It is chaired by Xavier Moreno, and its director has been Murielle Hurel Mezghrani since December 2022.
Xavier Moreno, who is also “Grand Mécène” of the Salle Cortot, was born on December 14, 1948 in Nice. He is President of Cérémé (Cercle d'Étude Réalités Écologiques et Mix Énergétique), and has worked for the French Ministry of Finance, Sanofi, Suez and finally the Astorg investment company.
Murielle Hurel Mezghrani, born in 1975, worked in the cultural industry and then held positions of responsibility at Fnac, General Manager of BilletRéduc and then Veepee Entertainment.
We contacted the Salle Cortot for clarification on the organization of this event, but received no reply.
