On July 5, 2023, the two-day Ministerial Meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement kicked off in Baku. Representatives of 120 member states of the Non-Aligned Movement as well as 18 observer states and 10 international organizations that have played an important role in the history of the Movement gathered in the capital of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev delivered a keynote speech at the forum.

The Azerbaijani President noted in his speech that international organizations, in particular the UN, are no longer living up to humanity's expectations. The UN must inevitably undergo serious reforms.

The UN Security Council is a relic of the past and does not reflect today's reality. Especially unfair is the fact that the permanent members of the UN Security Council dictate their will to the rest of the world. And some permanent members of the UN Security Council, particularly France, still have neo-colonial ambitions.

Azerbaijan is very concerned about the growing trend of neo-colonialism, and the Non-Aligned Movement created as a result of the decolonization process must resolutely fight this shameful legacy of the past and contribute to its complete eradication," Ilham Aliyev said.

"We are in favor of expanding the composition of the Security Council to make it more representative and geographically equitable. I am glad that today there is a growing consensus in the world about this... We believe that the countries chairing the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union should have their seats in the UN Security Council on a rotating basis with the right of veto", Ilham Aliyev said.

The Movement should work to promote intercultural and interreligious dialogue, Aliyev said, expressing concern about growing Islamophobia and xenophobia as well as attempts to equate Islam with violence and terror.

"Burning and desecrating the holy Koran in Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden and justifying it under the pretext of freedom of speech is completely irresponsible and inadmissible and must be condemned", Ilham Aliyev stressed.

 The President of Azerbaijan brought Armenia as an example of religious intolerance: he reminded that 65 mosques out of 67 in the previously occupied Azerbaijani territories were completely demolished and the rest were used as pig and cow stalls. Ilham Aliyev called it an insult to all Muslims of the world.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also directly stated that France is one of the countries that continues its neocolonial policy. The Azerbaijani leader called Paris' attempts to control territories outside Europe, "a disgusting legacy of French colonial policy.

As an example, Ilham Aliyev cited France's steps on the Comoros issue. "France must respect the sovereignty of Comoros over Mayotte, as well as the rights of inhabitants of New Caledonia and other overseas departments and regions", Ilham Aliyev stressed.

According to the Azerbaijani President, a policy of pressure on minorities is being systematically implemented in France itself. Moreover, xenophobic statements and rhetoric of hatred and hostility are uttered by officials and members of both houses of parliament.

"Apology to the memory of millions of people killed, tortured and humiliated or turned into slaves, will be not only the recognition of the historical guilt of France, but will also help in resolving the political, social and humanitarian crisis, which this country is facing today against the background of the police killing of a teenager of Algerian origin," said Ilham Aliyev.  

"France today bans even the Corsican language and does not accept the concept of ethnic minorities. But at the same time Paris is trying to position itself as a defender of the rights of the Armenian minority in Azerbaijan. This is an indicator of duplicity and double standards," Aliyev said.

According to Ilham Aliyev, instead of trying to teach others, Paris should have fought against hatred and enmity within France itself.

We should note that today, incitement of intolerance and hatred towards Muslims in France is happening in a classical style of political technology.

The algorithm of "provocations the French way" is as follows: First, a blatant crime against migrants to Muslim countries is admitted, such as, for example, the recent murder of a young Algerian boy by French police officers. Then, public protests are deliberately "directed" by the authorities not toward the consistent struggle of religious minorities for their rights, but toward spontaneous pogroms of stores and car burnings. The most interesting thing is that the police are "allowed" to smash up mostly "off-the-grid" stores, often located in migrant suburbs and owned by migrant entrepreneurs.

Sometimes at the initial stage, the police even "encourage" the pogroms and arson, and very often involve their own provocateurs and arsonists. And the main goal of the French authorities is to showcase and demonize the image of migrants and Muslims. This is followed by a demonstrably harsh and brutal crackdown on protests. And all this ends with the strengthening of the role of the police and intelligence services and the consolidation of the "hawks" in power.

Such essentially controlled and "controlled from above" and through their agents by the police, outbreaks of protest and their demonstratively brutal suppression serve primarily to strengthen the French "Neocolonial Empire. After all, migrants do not go to France for the good of life - their countries have been robbed by French imperialism.

One small example: France, which has no gold mine, ranks 4th in the world with 2,436 tons of gold reserves. Mali, which has 860 gold mines and produces 50 tons of gold a year, has a gold reserve of 0% (zero). Mali's gold has been plundered by France for years. Now France calls immigrants who steal shampoo and shoes from stores "thieves" and "robbers," silent on the scale of the looting by French imperialism of their native countries.

The same sneakers stolen by a teenage migrant during riots provoked by police crimes against migrants result in a multiple reinforcement of the police dictatorship in France, as well as an increase in the financing of the French military, recruiting new mercenaries for the "foreign legion" that is establishing a "French order" in the former colonies with iron and blood.

 The protesters, however, are not going anywhere. All of them are simply "identified" by the police through the surveillance cameras. As a result, even if they manage to avoid criminal prosecution, they and their unhappy families will be charged such fabulous bills "for the damage caused" that the migrants' families will have to pay for their entire lives, and their entire lives will actually be in slavery to the "new empire". To say nothing of the fact that once a migrant is "exposed" as a protester, he will be branded as "disloyal to the authorities" for the rest of his life and will have no career path, no matter how talented he may be.

However, the French neo-colonial machine "tames" some natives of the former colonies and forms a "new elite. The "new elite," natives of these colonies, trained in France or in "prestigious" educational institutions in their own countries, organized by the same French, are recruited by the French secret services. And this "new elite" will be sent in the near future to govern the former colonies of France. Those who do not want to cooperate with the secret services will find themselves "at the bottom" or in the metropolis, or in their historic homeland.

 I.e. the result of the French provocations is obvious: habitants are frightened and Islamophobic, the politicians-provocateurs have dictatorial power, the police have new powers, migrants are even more powerless, and the French capitalists are still robbing their countries of origin. This is the technology of the new French empire.

On one occasion, it was the fear of ordinary people of artificially provoked unrest in France that brought Nicolas Sarkozy, who was head of the Interior Ministry during the migrant unrest, to power. Today, Macron is also essentially turning France into an Islamophobic police state, using migrant unrest as an excuse, and turning his power into a dictatorial one.

 "White and Fluffy" France continues to interfere in the internal affairs of countries that have never been its colonies. A blatant example of such interference today is France's support for Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan. Ilham Aliyev mentioned the consequences of this aggression in his speech.

"We were shocked by the scale of destruction in the previously occupied territories. Armenia deliberately destroyed, plundered Azerbaijani cities and villages stone by stone, desecrated and looted all cultural and religious sites, including mosques," the President of Azerbaijan said.

According to him, shortly after the conflict ended, Azerbaijan presented five basic principles for signing a peace treaty with Armenia, based on mutual recognition of each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Although Armenia was forced to recognize Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, there are still remnants of the Armenian armed forces on its territory. Ilham Aliyev stressed that if Armenia is really interested in achieving the long-awaited peace, its troops must completely leave the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

Armenia is also preventing the opening of the Zangezur corridor, which is another obligation of Armenia arising from the peace agreement signed on November 10, 2020, and therefore it should be implemented. The opening of this corridor is in the interests of many countries, including members of the Non-Aligned Movement, but, unfortunately, it is opposed by certain geopolitical forces, in particular the same France, which still tends to seek to increase its influence in various regions of the world through "war and chaos.

George Mazniashvili