The mayors of the three largest French cities, Paris, Lyon, and Marseille, published a joint article in the "Libération" newspaper, requesting to impose sanctions on Azerbaijan in connection with the latter's blocking of the Lachine corridor. Below we present the Armenian translation of the article.

The Republic of Artsakh, inhabited mainly by Armenians, has become a victim of the blockade organized by the Baku regime, which is gradually suffocating the latter. The mayors of Paris, Lyon, and Marseille request that France and the European Union react as quickly as possible to support Artsakh with straightforward actions.
Azerbaijan's belligerent policy against the Republic of Artsakh gained new strength on December 12, when the organization of official Baku blocked the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. Additionally, until the previous Friday, Azerbaijan had also closed the gas supply to Nagorno Karabakh, thus testifying to its will to suffocate the this small besieged republic of the South Caucasus. However, the consolidation of Western governments, and in particular the position of the French government, prompted Baku to resume gas supplies and thus, fortunately, avoid worsening the situation on the eve of a cold winter.

The situation remains unacceptable, and France cannot tolerate the constant threat to the one hundred and twenty thousand Armenians living in the Republic of Nagorno Gharanagh (some of whose territories have been occupied by Azerbaijan). France cannot leave them to the whims of dictator Ilham Aliyev, who has been promoting anti-Armenian policies for two decades.

The French Senate and the National Assembly recently called on the French government to take structural measures.
In this context, we'd like to call on the President of the Republic of France to meet the Republic of Artsakh's elected representatives officially. In parallel with that, we call for unconditional condemnation of the Baku regime, which has announced through the lips of its Foreign Minister that Azerbaijan will not negotiate anything more on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, in violation of its international commitments, particularly within the framework of November 9, 2020.
We also request to initiate a European policy of sanctions against Azerbaijan, such as was adopted against Russia, starting, for example, to freeze the assets of Azerbaijani leaders and oligarchs held in our country.

And since this regime is no longer willing to negotiate, we request that France adopt a transparent position towards Nagorno-Karabakh, particularly in terms of decentralized cooperation, so that our regions, departments, and cities, following the example of Paris, Lyon, Marseille, or other local self-governing bodies, can mobilize human, financial and material resources, extending a helping hand to Artsakh for the reconstruction of numerous infrastructures destroyed by successive conflicts.

We also request that France participate in the reactivation of the Stepanakert airport. This air bridge will reduce the effects of the blockade and ease the lives of thousands of civilians whose only sin is the will to live in their land.
Firmly convinced that French diplomacy should play a significant role, we call on the President of the French Republic and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to continue to make efforts, combining them with our partners, to establish lasting peace in the region and, in line with international law, to ensure the application of the right of nations to self-determination.

Finally, we request that our country and the European Union show great foresight when concluding cooperation and trade agreements with Azerbaijan. Ursula Van der Leyen's initiative to get gas supply from Baku instead of Russia through Baku is more than disturbing. It is worrying that the financing of the conflict against the Republic of Artsakh is not condemned and vehemently opposed by our leaders, that the peaceful victims of armed conflicts, in this case, Armenians, elsewhere Ukrainians or Yemenis, are sacrificed on the altar of realpolitik.