Azerbaijan accused of destabilizing French territory

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 11 Jun 2024 by Alex Teddy

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Baku is said to be behind an orchestrated social media campaign against the French State in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia. Some people connected to the New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) are said to be behind the campaign. There are accounts on X that have been suspended on suspicion of disseminating disinformation including images. Azerbaijan severely restricts expression at home. Baku said accusations that it is has instigated any media campaign against France preposterous. The New Azerbaijan Party says that its members have the right to vocalize their views on any topics. This is untrue since any criticism of the government in Azerbaijan is dealt with harshly. On May 17 Paris published a dossier saying that Azerbaijan social media accounts are publishing anti-French publicity. Photos showing people lying dead on a street were falsely labeled as photos of people shot by the French Police in New Caledonia. 86 accounts linked to the YAP published calls for New Caledonian independence. Hundreds of such postings appeared on 3 days in May 2024. There was an upsurge in violence in New Caledonia in 2024. Azerbaijan seems to have exploited this. The native people of the island tend to be much poorer than white people from mainland France resident on the island. Some independence protestors displayed Azerbaijan's Flag. If there is an Azerbaijani disinformation campaign to undermine France it is vengeance for France providing arms and funds to Armenia. The Baku Initiative Group was established in 2023 to assist campaigns for independence in France's overseas territories.  Paris castigated Azerbaijan for blocking the Lachin Corridor in 2023. This was a road that was su...