Azerbaijan’s foray into “anti-colonial” advocacy
Over the past year, Azerbaijan has increasingly cast itself as a liberating force for the overseas territories under French control. What can Azerbaijan gain from leading the charge against “French colonialism in Mayotte”, an island that could hardly be further from its territory?
Relations between France and Azerbaijan have soured dramatically, with a recent series of diplomatic escalations culminating in several controversial conferences organized by Baku. The conference on the “illegal French occupation of the island of Mayotte” is not the first conference they have organized that is dedicated to the subject of the French Overseas Departments and Regions. As early as May 2024, the Milli Majlis, the Azerbaijan National Assembly, hosted a conference entitled “French Polynesia’s Right to Decolonization: Problems and Prospects”.
February 28, 2025 -
Svenja Petersen
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AnalysisIssue 1-2 2025Magazine
Kanak demonstration against French Colonialism in 2024. Photo: Pierre Laborde / Shutterstock
This was followed by a conference in October 2024 at the invitation of the Baku Initiative Group (BIG), a platform promoting international cooperation and promoting decolonization. The October conference was titled “The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Consequences of French Colonialism” and was promoted as part of the session of the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva.
Even at COP29, which recently took place in the capital of Baku, the Azerbaijani president used the platform to address the French archipelagos in particular. Aliyev said: “The so-called overseas territories of France … particularly in the Caribbean and the Pacific, are among the most severely impacted by climate change. The voices of these communities are often brutally suppressed by the regime.” With this statement, Aliyev placed the French islands in particular in the foreground, although other Pacific and Caribbean island groups are equally affected by climate change. He proceeded to question both the legitimacy of France’s presence and accused the French state of structurally repressive governance on the islands. While the atrocities that occurred under French colonialism are undisputed and the needs of the indigenous populations in the French overseas territories should be addressed, the question arises as to why Azerbaijan, a country that has never been affected by French colonialism, is repeatedly bringing this topic to the fore.
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Azerbaijan, decolonizatino, France
