Rachida Dati, a candidate in the Paris mayoral election, has close ties with the Azerbaijani authorities. According to Armenpress, this is raised as an alarm in an article published on the Marianne online platform by the co-chairs of the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France, Mourad Papazian, Ara Toranian (editor-in-chief of the magazine «Nouvelles d’Arménie»), and Patrick Karam, a member of the Île-de-France regional council.
The article states that Dati is known for her close ties with the authoritarian and non-democratic Azerbaijani government. She was a member of the Friends of Azerbaijan Association, which has been considered the main instrument of “caviar diplomacy” in France.
“Need we remind that Madame Dati, who declares her support for Baku, spoke out against the 2017 European Parliament inquiry into the illegal pressure exerted by Azerbaijan on European politicians,” the article states.
Rachida’s closeness to the Aliyev regime was vividly expressed during the grand banquet she organized in honor of Azerbaijan’s First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva in 2011. The Paris mayoral candidate, especially after the April War unleashed by Azerbaijan in 2016, made statements against the Armenians living in Mountainous Karabakh.
The authors of the article expressed the hope that Rachida Dati will end her privileged relations with the Azerbaijani authorities.
Local government elections in France are to take place on 15-22 March.
