‘I say to Armenia and to Armenians; France will play its role’ – French President Emmanuel Macron Macron criticizes Turkey

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday condemned what he called Turkey’s “reckless and dangerous” statements backing Azerbaijan amid ongoing hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh, France24 reports.

Ankara said on Tuesday it was “fully ready to help Azerbaijan recover Nagorno-Karabakh.”

“I have noted Turkey’s political statements which I think are reckless and dangerous,” Macron told reporters in Latvia’s capital Riga during a visit to the Baltic EU state.

“France remains extremely concerned about the bellicose comments that Turkey made in the last hours, which essentially remove any inhibitions from Azerbaijan in what would be a reconquest of northern Karabakh. That we will not accept,” he added.

He also appeared to voice support for Yerevan: “I say again clearly to Armenia and Armenians; France will play its role, and we will be vigilant there too, to respect families, people, sovereignty, we will not tolerate any message of escalation.”

“It has been established that the fire was coming from Azerbaijan. I demanded that this attack stop and very clearly condemned these actions, which seemed disproportionate to me. Everyone must return to calmness and a ceasefire. My thoughts have thoughts are with the families of the victims,” Macron said.

But Macron also said it was too soon to speak of a regional conflict.

He said he would discuss the tensions with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday evening and US President Donald Trump on Thursday before reporting on the situation to the European Council of EU leaders.

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