France wants international supervision to implement a ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh

On Thursday, the presidency declared that France wants international supervision to achieve a ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the presence of concerns in Paris that Russia and Turkey could reach an agreement to isolate Western powers from future peace discussions.

Moscow participates in the Minsk Group’s administration that is supervising the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Washington and Paris; however they were not involved in the agreement signed by Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan to finish six weeks of struggling about the enclave.

Since the ceasefire, Russia has held discussions with Turkey, which is a main Azerbaijani ally and a loud critic of the Minsk group, which could conduct to Ankara propagating troops to the region.

President Emmanuel Macron’s office related after calls with the Azerbaijani president and Armenian prime minister: The end of the fighting should now allow the resumption of good faith negotiations in order to protect the population of Nagorno-Karabakh and ensure the return of tens of thousands of people who have fled their homes in recent weeks in good security conditions.

It should be noted that France’s population contains between 400,000 to 600,000 people of Armenian origin. Macron has been careful not to support a side in the dispute; however, he has faced criticism inside that he did not do enough to help Yerevan. A French presidential official informed reporters: We want the Minsk Group to play its role in defining the surveillance (of the ceasefire).

The source reported that Paris was making pressure on international supervision of the ceasefire to permit refugees’ coming back, and organize the return of foreign fighters, particularly from Syria, and begin discussions on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Indeed, ties between France and Turkey have been particularly not good for many months, and Paris accused Ankara of stimulating the crisis in the Caucuses. The official also said: We understand that the Russians are talking to the Turks regarding a possible formula, which we don’t want, that would replicate the Astana (process) to divide their roles in this sensitive region, adding: We can’t have on one side Minsk and the other Astana. At one point the Russians have to make a choice.

The Astana forum allowed Russia and Turkey to discuss how to manage the Syrian conflict and take away Western powers.