On September 4, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the strict travel warning recently issued by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs concerning Azerbaijan. 

The warning was based on argument that French citizens are being detained and targeted in Azerbaijan. The Ministry criticized this decision as baseless and biased, suggesting it is intended to further strain relations between France and Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry argued that no evidence supports the French Ministry's claims. They described these allegations as a distortion of reality. The Ministry noted that only one French citizen, Martin Rian, was arrested in Azerbaijan on December 4 of the previous year on suspicion of espionage, as per Article 276 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. Another French citizen, Clerk Theo Hugo, was also detained due to his actions in the Baku Metro.

In contrast, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry highlighted that “France's restrictions on Azerbaijani journalists traveling to France and other Schengen countries” contradict the human rights principles that “France claims to uphold.” The Ministry criticized France for “its international legal violations, neo-colonial policies, racism, discrimination, Islamophobia, and human rights restrictions, accusing France of hypocrisy in its approach to democracy and human rights.”

The statement concluded with a demand for France to cease “its smear campaign against Azerbaijan.”