It was Azerbaijan that unleashed 2020 war - Emmanuel Macron 

ArmInfo. If you look at the last decade, it seems that Azerbaijan has armed itself much more than  Armenia. French President Emmanuel Macron stated this on July 18 at a press conference following the fourth summit of the European Political Community in London, referring to the situation in the South Caucasus region. His words are quoted in his Twitter microblog (X) by the French Ambassador to Armenia Olivier Decottignies.

"And if my memory serves me right, but correct me if I'm wrong,  Azerbaijan really started a war, and a terrible one, in 2020," the  French leader said.

In the context of French arms supplies to Armenia, Macron expressed  the belief that it is normal for allies and partners to supply  weapons and ammunition for their own defense: "We do this with many  other European countries. It is normal to simply respond to a request  from a sovereign country that wants to arm itself and feels , which  may be subject to aggression from another country."

However, he added that he had never heard from Prime Minister  Pashinyan about plans for war or aggression: "Negotiations on border  delimitation are still underway. I am proud that we signed a  memorandum on border delimitation in Prague based on the Alma-Ata  Declaration. I I hope that the negotiations will be successfully  completed."

At the same time, the French leader recalled that France supports the  independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia. "We  express our support for the ongoing discussions between Armenia and  Azerbaijan to reach a peace treaty with the goal of establishing a  just and lasting peace in accordance with international law," Macron  noted.

According to him, the prospect of Armenia is peace, the prospect of  France is peace. "And I really hope that Azerbaijan's prospect is  peace. And if the two countries complete a peace treaty, we will  support such a treaty," Macron said.

A number of media outlets note that during a press conference, when  Macron spoke about the war unleashed by Azerbaijan in  Nagorno-Karabakh, one of those present at the press conference noted  that Azerbaijan "regained its sovereign territory," to which the  French president replied: "This is not debate, not a press  conference."

On September 27, 2023, the then head of the French Foreign Ministry  Catherine Colonna announced the appointment of a French military  attache in Yerevan with the aim of further strengthening bilateral  defense cooperation.

And already in early October, France responded positively to  Armenia's request for military assistance against the backdrop of the  threat posed by Azerbaijan. On October 22-23, at a meeting of the  head of the French military department, Sebastien Lecornu, with the  Minister of Defense of Armenia Suren Papikyan in Paris, it was  announced that an agreement on the supply of arms to Yerevan had been  reached. At that time, agreements were signed on the supply of three  Thales Ground Master 200 (GM200) radars to Yerevan and a memorandum  of understanding on the supply of Mistral short-range air defense  systems.  The second contract concerned Yerevan's purchase of night  vision binoculars, equipment manufactured by Safran. France has  already supplied Armenia with 24 units of Bastion-type light armored  vehicles. In total, Armenia will receive 50 such vehicles. Azerbaijan  was thrown into hysterics over Armenian-French defense cooperation.