Azerbaijan commission call for expulsion of French companies

BAKU

An Azerbaijan parliamentary commission called Thursday for the expulsion of French companies from the oil-rich country, including energy giant TotalEnergies, in the latest deterioration of relations between Baku and Paris.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly hit out at France for criticising Baku's Karabakh offensive last year, and for plans by Paris officials to help arm neighbouring Armenia.

The commission urged severing economic ties with Paris in response to a French Senate resolution that "condemned the violation" of Armenian territory.

"The committee believes it is important to impose sanctions on France," the committee for international relations of Azerbaijan's parliament said in a statement.

"All French companies, including Total, should withdraw from Azerbaijan and French companies should not be allowed to particate in any projects carried out by the Azerbaijani state," it said.

TotalEnergies has worked in Azerbaijan since 1996. In September last year its executives took part in the inauguration of the Absheron gas field with President Ilham Aliyev.

Azerbaijan took control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory in a lightning 24-hour military offensive last year.

The region is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but was home to a majority Armenian population and controlled by pro-Armenian separatists.

The parliamentary committee accused Paris of being "racist, Azerbaijanophobic and Islamophobic" over its response.

It also asked the country's foreign ministry to "take steps" to recognise the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, as well as French Polynesia and France's Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia, as independent.

The moves were the latest signs of mounting tensions between France, a historic ally of Armenia, and Azerbaijan, with Aliyev accusing Paris of wanting a new war in the Caucasus.