Azerbaijan and Armenian separatists from the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh held their first direct peace talks Thursday, after Baku claimed to have regained control over the breakaway region in a lightning military operation that France slammed as "illegal, unjustifiable and unacceptable". FRANCE 24 spoke to Leyla Abdullayeva, Azerbaijan's ambassador to France, about the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan on Tuesday unleashed an artillery barrage and drone attacks against outnumbered and undersupplied pro-Armenian forces on the mountainous territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
France's foreign minister blasted Azerbaijan's military operation in the ethnic Armenian enclave as "illegal, unjustifiable, unacceptable".
"I would like to emphasise that we hold Azerbaijan responsible for the fate of Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh," Catherine Colonna told journalists on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
But Abdullayeva rejected France's allegations, claiming that Azerbaijan's “anti-terror” operations were “legal and legitimate”.
Please click on the player above to watch the interview in full.
