Azerbaijan’s president slams ‘colonial’ French, Dutch overseas territories at COP29
Ilham Aliyev also accused the European Parliament of sharing responsibility for deadly riots in New Caledonia.
BAKU, Azerbaijan — Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani autocrat, used a gathering of island leaders at this year’s COP29 climate talks to attack France and the Netherlands for maintaining overseas territories.
The Azerbaijani president tied climate change to “neocolonialism” as he vowed to support small island nations in their fight against rising sea levels.
“The so-called overseas territories of France and Netherlands, particularly in the Caribbean and the Pacific, are among the most severely impacted” by climate change, Aliyev told the leaders’ summit of small island developing countries at COP29. “The voices of these communities are often brutally suppressed by the regimes.”
He went on to list the territories, which he called “colonies,” and examples of how French and Dutch administration had caused “environmental degradation,” such as France’s nuclear testing in French Polynesia and Algeria.
Aliyev then spoke at length about this year’s violent unrest in New Caledonia, which he blamed on the “regime” of President Emmanuel Macron.
France has accused Azerbaijan of meddling in its domestic affairs, particularly in New Caledonia. Azerbaijan has, for example, founded the Baku Initiative Group, which brings together 14 political movements across the former French Empire in the name of decolonization, and built ties with local political figures calling for the autonomy or independence of France’s overseas territories.
He also attacked the Council of Europe — the continent’s human rights watchdog — and the European Parliament for not condemning France’s handling of the situation.
“The European Parliament and the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe … became symbols of political corruption and share responsibility with the government of President Macron for killings of innocent people,” Aliyev said.
Aliyev’s remarks Wednesday, which were met with enthusiastic applause from the island summit’s attendees, come just one day after he used his opening speech at COP29 to attack Western “hypocrisy.”
Neither French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron nor his Dutch counterpart Dick Schoof are attending COP29. The two countries’ foreign ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Victor Goury-Laffont contributed to this report.
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