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Abbas Ganbay

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While the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia is over, the road to realising the peace process in the South Caucasus will not be easy. The West's involvement through Armenia in the South Caucasus puts all things at risk of being destabilised.

Several parties show themselves as being supportive of the peace process; however, some others who wish to reignite the conflict stand rigid on their plan to disrupt it. So far, by supporting Armenia, France has achieved little to no significant imbalance in Azerbaijani-Armenian relations. France's "support" forces Armenia to act based on the will of the former, which leads to mass propaganda of anti-Azerbaijani statements and, as a result, creates a desire for revenge in the young Armenian generation. The peace process in the South Caucasus would be realised faster if the same "helpers" of Armenia would stop pursuing their gain.

French participants are gradually joining the ranks of Armenian "human rights" activists, and they often believe that they are working for a good cause. The French journalist/reporter Anne-Laure-Bonel published a post on her X social page with the title "Silence, they are killing in Nagorno-Karabakh." The French journalist's provocative post reads: "I will be attending the 50th meeting of the French-speaking press in Dakar from January 9 to 11, 2023 (amendment 2024) to discuss the war in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. I'm honoured and excited to draw attention to a conflict that has been very little talked about since 2020."

A young journalist had a chance to "prove herself" and tell the Armenian-French public the same propaganda that they have been doing for 30 years. When the war is over and a peace treaty is being negotiated between Armenia and Azerbaijan, what can "killing in Garabagh" mean? Who is being killed? When? Where?

However, the French journalist, while stating a lie, told the truth. Indeed, people are being killed in Garabagh, especially civilians. It is not man-to-man killing, but Armenian mines have been quietly killing civilians since 2020 in the liberated territories, where 10 mines are buried for every square metre. About 3,000 civilians have been victims of mines in Azerbaijan's liberated Garabagh, where 525 of them were killed and some others were maimed. The number of people who fell victim to mines during the Patriotic War is still unknown, and Armenia has yet to present an exact map of the mines buried in those territories.

The French journalist should be asked questions at the forum in Dakar: How were Armenians going to live in Azerbaijani territories after having planted the territories with Armenian mines? And if Armenia wants peace with Azerbaijan, why doesn't it provide Azerbaijan with maps of minefields sown by themselves? And how are the Armenian authorities going to return the Armenians back to Garabagh who have left those territories voluntarily? This is what the French Parliament has to discuss rather than clasping the Armenian PM, who always fluctuates in his promise of signing a peace treaty while standing between his opponents and supporters like France.

It should be recalled that from November 10, 2020, to October 6, 2023, as a result of Armenia's mine terrorism against the Azerbaijani people, 191 mine incidents took place on the territory of Garabagh and Eastern Zangazur. The victims of mine explosions were 330 Azerbaijanis, 62 of whom died, 49 civilians, and 15 military personnel. A total of 267 people were injured as a result of the mine blast.

As of October 5, this year, 100,467.8 hectares of land have been cleared of mines and other explosive devices.

Recall that during this period, 95,638 mines and other explosive devices were found, including 29,790 anti-personnel, 17,439 anti-tank mines, and 48,409 unexploded ordnance.

The French authorities, who are committed to nurturing chaos, will not achieve what they want in the South Caucasus because 'whoever digs a pit will fall into it'. In the meantime, France is drowning in migration and economic crises. And as regards the human rights issues in Paris, French police officers kill the protesters "quietly" as a result of the repeated use of an electroshock device.

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Abbas Ganbay is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @Noend33

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