2024-01-09 14:10:40
Tensions are high between Paris and Baku, particularly since the outbreak of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. They are back in the news with the announcement by the Azerbaijani ambassador in Paris of the detention of a French national accused of espionage. The latter was arrested on December 4.
“Suspected of having committed acts of espionage, Martin Ryan […] was arrested on December 4,” said Leyla Abdullayeva. “Later, the courts ordered his detention for a period of four months,” she explained, stressing that “the French embassy in Baku (had) been informed by a verbal note” and that he had received consular visits “on several occasions”.
Questioned by AFP, the French embassy in Baku and the Quai d’Orsay did not react on Tuesday morning.
The case was leaked a few days ago in online media, particularly in Azerbaijan, but without official confirmation. It comes as relations worsen between Paris and Baku.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev criticizes France for supporting Armenia in the conflict between Yerevan and Baku. In November, he accused Paris of “preparing the ground for a new war” in the Caucasus by “arming” Armenia, after the announcement of the sale to Yerevan of French equipment for its ground-to-air defense.
For its part, Paris had accused actors linked to Azerbaijan of having led a manipulation campaign aimed at damaging France’s reputation in its ability to host the 2024 Olympic Games.
– “Like a pawn” –
Increasing tensions
In December, tensions rose a notch with the mutual expulsion of two diplomats. A case that the father of the detained Frenchman, Richard Ryan, considers linked to his arrest when his son had expressed pro-Baku positions in the past.
“We spoke with him four times, each time for two minutes. He says he is treated well and gets along well with his lawyer,” he told AFP. “Once, he told me: + they wanted to use me as a pawn +”, he assured.
On May 17, 2021, the businessman signed an open letter with other French people residing in Azerbaijan to President Emmanuel Macron, which “remained unanswered”, according to him. In this letter, the signatories including Martin Ryan asked the Head of State for “strong gestures” for “the normalization of Franco-Azerbaijani relations” undermined “by extremely clumsy and biased declarations” from French diplomacy, considered pro-Armenian. .
In another letter sent in January 2023 to Anne Genetet, deputy for the 11th constituency of French people living abroad (Asia, Oceania and Eastern Europe), the entrepreneur, specializing in the importation and distribution of food products, had also denounced the French position on the conflict between Baku and Yerevan.
“Radical elements of the Armenian diaspora in France are tirelessly leading a real anti-Azerbaijan campaign and spreading false propaganda,” he wrote, regretting that the image of France has “considerably deteriorated” in Azerbaijan, to the detriment of French interests.
On Tuesday, his court-appointed lawyer, Me Nizami Aliyev, claimed that his client had been in contact with French people there who he later learned were “agents” of French intelligence. “Martin is not an agent,” he declared to AFP, while assuring that the matter was “not political.”
He is liable, according to him, to a sentence of 10 to fifteen years in prison.
For thirty years, Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics, have been in a territorial conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Last September, Baku led a lightning offensive there leading to the capitulation of Armenian separatists.
Almost the entire Armenian population of the region – more than 100,000 people out of 120,000 – has since fled to Armenia.
The two neighbors had already clashed during two wars for control of this enclave, one between 1988 and 1994, the other in the fall of 2020. Baku and Yerevan recently announced their desire to normalize their relations but the talks are making little progress.
In this matter, France, host to a large Armenian diaspora, has said it is ready to participate in mediation efforts, while displaying its unwavering support for Armenia which fears the violation of its territorial integrity.
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