President Emmanuel Macron Defends French Arms Supplies to Armenia

LONDON — French President Emmanuel Macron has defended France’s multimillion-dollar defense contracts with Armenia, emphasizing that the aim is to avoid war. Speaking at a news conference following the European Political Community (EPC) summit in England, Macron responded to an Azerbaijani journalist’s question about the arms deals signed since last fall.

“If you look at the past decade, it seems that Azerbaijan did equip itself much more than Armenia. And if my memory is right, but correct me if I am wrong, Azerbaijan did launch a war, and a terrible one, in 2020. It is normal to just answer the request of a sovereign country which wants to equip itself and feels it can be aggressed by another one,” Macron said.

“I never heard from Prime Minister Pashinyan that he had any project of war or aggression,” Macron added, underscoring that military cooperation between sovereign states is entirely normal. “The perspective of Armenia is peace, the perspective of France is peace, I do hope the perspective of Azerbaijan is peace. And if the two countries finalize a peace treaty, we will back such a treaty.”

Paris pledged last October to sell defensive weapons and provide other military assistance to Armenia as part of a broader deepening of French-Armenian relations. The French weapons include sophisticated radars, short-range air-defense systems, and armored personnel carriers. Last month, the two sides signed another contract for the delivery of 36 CAESAR self-propelled howitzers to the Armenian military.

Macron also reaffirmed French support for Armenia’s territorial integrity and efforts to negotiate a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. He met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the sidelines of the EPC summit, discussing multi-sectoral cooperation between Armenia and France. They also addressed the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, emphasizing efforts to ensure peace and stability in the region, and exchanged ideas on developing Armenia-European Union cooperation.