Axar.az presents the article "The French Senate resolution is historical revisionism" by Andrew Korybko.

Some observers have reacted with shock to the news that the French Senate passed a resolution asking Paris to recognize the self-proclaimed “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic”, though this shouldn't have been surprising for those who've been paying attention to efforts of the Armenian diaspora lobby in that country. That separatist entity no longer exists after the Russian-brokered peace agreement that finalized Azerbaijan's glorious victory earlier in the month, but France's powerful Armenian diaspora lobby doesn't want its memory to be forgotten. They hope that the influence they wield in Paris can advance their agenda of historical revisionism.

The French government officially dismissed the non-binding resolution, but that didn't prevent Azerbaijan from condemning it as provocative, which it had a very good reason to do. As was mentioned, the resolution is an attempt to revise history by reviving a false memory of that separatist entity intended to portray it in a positive light. The French-based Armenian diaspora lobby hopes to present it in shades of a so-called “clash of civilizations”, which is on the verge of becoming the French ideology following Paris' antagonistic moves against Islam over the past two months, ergo one of the ulterior motives that the Senate had in passing the resolution.

The separatist conflict had no religious dimensions even though the Armenian lobby attempted to falsely portray it otherwise in their desperate hope of generating support from Western countries in the weeks leading up to Yerevan's defeat. They failed to secure the French Senate's recognition request before that happened, which speaks to Paris' intent to at least superficially retain the pretence of “neutrality” in the conflict despite some of its officials openly siding with Armenia during that time. Those who voted for the resolution saw a chance to improve their domestic political prospects by misleadingly signalling support for Christianity.

No such thing as the self-proclaimed “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” exists any longer. It wasn't mentioned in the peace agreement because of the fact that it never actually even existed in terms of international law since not a single country in the world, including Armenia, recognized it. It was nothing more than the rebranding of Armenia's illegal occupation of universally recognized Azerbaijani territory, which is no longer a reality. Pretending otherwise isn't just delusional, but also dishonest for reasons of historical revisionism. It's also very dangerous because of the domestic context in which the French Senate passed the resolution.

The optics of that move strongly suggest that those politicians pay credence to the Armenian diaspora lobby's claims pertaining to a “clash of civilizations”. Considering what France is currently going through at home, this could widen the divide between its religious communities. Therefore, it's actually counterproductive from the perspective of national unity and runs contrary to the government's officially proclaimed goal of resolving those differences. It's also illegal from the perspective of international law and shows how rogue the French Senate has become as a result of Armenian diaspora influence that it would dare to flout the UN Charter so openly.

The French government is aware of all of this, which is why it dismissed the resolution, but it couldn't prevent it from reaching this point because of the model of Western democracy that it practices. The process had to play out in accordance with the law despite being so domestically dangerous and internationally discrediting. France's reputation in Muslim reputations has sunk following its aggressive crackdown against members of the Muslim community after October's infamous terrorist attack, and it's only expected to continue declining since the country signalled that its democratically elected representatives support the “clash of civilizations” theory.

What's most regrettable is that none of this had to happen at all had it now been for French officials submitting to the influence of the powerful Armenian diaspora lobby in their country. Their democratic system was corrupted by a radical ethnoreligious lobbying force that doesn't have France's best interests in mind but intends to exploit the state as a proxy for promoting foreign ones at the host country's expense. The French government would therefore do well to investigate everything related to this process since it arguably represents a threat to national security that could get even worse with time if left unchecked.