French President Emmanuel Macron called his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev and expressed solidarity and support for Azerbaijan in the wake of Iran's air strike on his territory. This was reported today by the Azerbaijani presidential press service.

Later, Macron himself confirmed his conversation with Aliyev on the social media platform X, stating that he "also thanked him for the assistance provided by Azerbaijan to facilitate the evacuation of our citizens [from Iran]."

The French president wrote his post in Azerbaijani. He also noted that he "took this opportunity to reaffirm our support for the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan and our desire to continue bilateral dialogue with Baku on a more solid foundation."

The French president also used this obvious diplomatic ploy in other posts, writing in Arabic about his telephone discussions on the situation in the Middle East with the leaders of the Persian Gulf states.

As a human rights activist from Azerbaijan, who wished to remain anonymous, notes in a commentary for Novyi Dosh, "the current global situation is dramatically relegating the issue of human rights violations, the suppression of freedom of speech, and repression against those undesirable in countries with authoritarian regimes like Azerbaijan."

According to him, "thanks to the new realities, Aliyev and his colleagues in the 'dictators' club' have once again become accepted in the civilized world and are extracting maximum benefit from this tragic situation."

According to Azerbaijani media, citing local authorities, since the start of the American-Israeli war against Iran and to date, Azerbaijan has evacuated 1,899 people from the neighboring country engulfed in air attacks: 314 of them are Azerbaijanis, 538 are citizens of China, 290 are Russians, 173 are Tajiks, 123 are Pakistanis, 57 are Omanis, 44 are Italians, 32 are Indonesians, 26 are Spanish and Iranians each, 18 are Saudi Arabians, 17 are Japans, 16 are Frances, 14 are Germanys, 13 are Georgias, 12 are Uzbekistans, 10 are Bulgarians, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigerians, 8 are Brazils, Great Britain and Kazakhstans, 7 are Belarussians, 6 are UAEs, Slovakia and Canadas, 5 are Serbians, Afghans, Czech Republics, Switzerland and Austrias, 4 are Bahrainis, Jordanians and Sri Lankas. Ukraine, Turkey, Hungary, Belgium, and Kuwait; three each from the Philippines, Qatar, Mexico, Finland, Romania, and Croatia; four from Bangladesh; two each from Nepal, Lebanon, Yemen, Kyrgyzstan, Sudan, India, and Cyprus; and one citizen each from Poland, Tunisia, South Africa, the Maldives, Myanmar, Cuba, Sweden, the Vatican, Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Egypt, and the United States.

Our interlocutor bitterly recalls that there are currently approximately 400 political figures, activists, journalists, and human rights defenders in Azerbaijani prisons, convicted on politically motivated charges. International organizations have recognized all of them as political prisoners.

Some human rights activists had placed cautious hopes on US Vice President J.D. Vance's visit to Baku in February of this year, but "the current American administration, it seems, has completely different priorities, which include values ​​other than human rights, as demonstrated by the results of the talks between Vance and Aliyev and the complimentary remarks about the Azerbaijani dictator from Trump and his vice president," the human rights activist laments.