Baku, February 3, AZERTAC

The People of Corsica Support Group set up in Azerbaijan’s Parliament has issued a statement.

AZERTAC presents the statement: “Approximately 700 people founded a new movement called ‘Nazione’ in Corsica on 28 January 2024, uniting the entities and activists struggling for independence and reaffirming their commitment to fight the French colonial domination.

The Police of the Macron Dictatorship, which attempts to grossly intervene in other countries’ internal affairs and proclaims itself a democracy, albeit being so only on paper whilst disrespecting the people’s right of free expression of opinions in Corsica began to persecute the Nazione activists only two days after this Movement’s establishment.

Two Nazione activists were arrested and taken first to the Borgu military camp and from there to Paris as terrorists to the orders of the National Anti-Terror Prosecution Office of France on 30 January. The French Police raided the activists’ houses, broke their doors with explosive charges, treated the fathers violently before their children, ransacked the houses and deliberately smashed the children’s toys, again, right before their eyes. Then, the arrestees and their family members and another activist were carried away for police interrogation.

It is hypocritical of a country posing as the human rights cradle that the doors of a house with young children inside should be blown up with explosives. These abuses prove once again that France has not yet shed colonial mentality and that it has no respect for the fundamental rights of the people in its current colonies.

The French Police continue illegal activities meaning to intimidate the people of Corsica and silence the supporters of independence. However, it was announced at the press conference of the Nazione leaders on 2 February that no repression could ever stop the national struggle of the people of Corsica and make them surrender.

Seeking to annihilate the Corsican language spoken by more than 150,000 people, the French Government prohibited the use of the Corsican at debates in the local Parliament – including in individual presentations by parliamentarians.

This policy adds up to evident and violent breach of the international obligations of France concerning the universal human rights and the rights of ethnic minorities. France denies the ethnic identities of the peoples that live in its territory and only accepts the concept of ‘French’, which is Chauvinism in itself.

France violated the requirements and obligations under international instruments to which it is party by suppressing the right to use the local language in Corsica. Those instruments include the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the most important document of the French Revolution of 1789, that defined the individual human rights per se. The list also includes the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights, the UNESCO Universal Declaration of Cultural Diversity, the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and so forth.

As the People of Corsica Support Group set up in the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan, we:

• Strongly condemn the unlawful actions of the French Law Enforcement Authorities against the supporters of Corsican independence;

• Demand that the French Authorities should respect the fundamental human rights;

• Insist that the Government of France should guarantee the freedom of the people of Corsica to assemble and their right to unite;

• Demand that all those detained should be released immediately and their political persecution be ceased.”