Aliyev promised to help territories secure independence from France

(Patria) - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev promised on Saturday to help French overseas territories secure independence, the latest in a series of incidents in which his former Soviet state has clashed with Paris over long-standing disputes in the Caucasus.

Aliyev accuses France of interfering in its affairs due to its contacts with Armenia, against which it has fought two wars in thirty years linked to disputes over Baku's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Reuters reports.

In recent months, Azerbaijani leaders have focused on the French South Pacific territory of New Caledonia, which has been rocked by violence due to objections from indigenous Kanak activists to controversial electoral reform.

Aliyev made his latest comments at a media forum a few days before the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris and shortly after a congress in Baku that brought together independence groups from New Caledonia and other French territories.

"We will support you until you are free," Aliyev told the forum, citing French territories which he said were still subject to colonialism.

"Some countries still suffer from this. The Comoros Islands, Mayotte are still under colonial rule. It was our duty to help these countries free themselves from this revolting remnant of the past," Alieyev said.

Earlier this week, an "initiative group" held a congress in Baku attended by independence groups from New Caledonia and other French territories, including Corsica and Caribbean and Pacific islands. Reports in the French media about the meeting stated that participants sharply criticized the French authorities and that an Azerbaijani delegation was invited to visit New Caledonia.

France accused Azerbaijan in May of interfering and supporting riots in New Caledonia by flooding social media, it said, with misleading photos and videos targeting the French police. Azerbaijan denied the accusations.

Azerbaijani authorities accuse France of bias in favor of Armenia in efforts to reach a peace agreement to end the three-decade conflict and in signing defense treaties with the authorities in Yerevan.

Azerbaijan expelled two French diplomats last December.