On 24 October, Elchin Amirbayov, the Azerbaijani President's Representative for Special Tasks, said that the participants of the "3+3" platform (Iran, Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia) agreed at a ministerial meeting in Tehran that the countries of the region should play a leading role in resolving the issues in the South Caucasus and intend to strengthen their sense of ownership and involvement in shaping the future of this strategically important region.

Amirbayov recalled that the idea of establishing a consultative regional platform in the six-party format was put forward by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev immediately after the end of the 44-day war in Karabakh in the autumn of 2020. "The purpose of this initiative is to use the existing serious potential for active regional cooperation and practical interaction between the three South Caucasus states and their closest neighbours - Turkey, Russia and Iran - in such promising areas as trade, transport communications, energy security, culture, science, etc.," he listed.

The senior Azerbaijani official then moved on to the criticism of Paris' actions and its "destructive" role in the South Caucasus that has already become commonplace among officials in Baku. According to the Azerbaijani presidential aide, France abuses its leading role in international institutions such as the UN Security Council, the European Union, the European Parliament and even the International Organisation of the Francophonie, and this is clearly manifested in Azerbaijan.

"By constantly promoting biased, one-sided and openly anti-Azerbaijani initiatives, Paris is unfortunately becoming a hostage to its domestic agenda, thus undermining not only its authority but also the reputation of the European Union as a possible mediator in the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalisation process," Amirbayov stressed.

France to send military advisor to Armenia

Azerbaijan's remarks against France came amid the new military agreement between Paris and Yerevan, which provides for the export of advanced French air defence systems and radars to Armenia. Moreover, on 24 October, French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu, commenting on the results of talks with his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikyan in Paris, said that France would send an army officer to Armenia as a military adviser and would also train special units for the Armenian army. 

The head of the French military listed the programmes and directions in which the sides have started or intend to start cooperation in the defence sphere. He recalled that this year France established a defence mission in Armenia at its embassy in Yerevan, headed by the military attaché of the Western European country. Now, an army officer of the Fifth Republic will be sent as a military adviser to the Armenian Ministry of Defence.
Paris and Yerevan are also planning to cooperate in the field of military training institutions for sergeants and officers. Minister Lecornu mentioned the preparation by France of special units for the Armenian armed forces, particularly for combat operations in mountainous terrain and high-precision shooting.