Diplomatic tensions between Paris and Baku escalated in late December when Azerbaijan ordered two French diplomats to leave the country. France declared the two Azerbaijani diplomats “persona non grata” as a reciprocal measure. In November, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accused France of provoking conflict in the Caucasus by arming Armenia.
Didn’t it turn out later how right he was?
The French are in a tailspin because the Yerevan administration, whose so-called protectorate they are supposed to be, got a good beating from the Azerbaijani army in Nagorno-Karabakh. Moreover, when the Armenian diaspora based in Paris pressurises Macron, such a picture emerges.
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Both Ankara and Moscow must have missed the fact that the French intelligence organised small and trivial activities in Azerbaijan through businessmen, diplomats, journalists and diplomats in order to put Baku in a difficult situation, as their spy apparatus was deciphered one by one.
During the deepening of the diplomatic crisis between Azerbaijan and France, Baku had warned Paris not to “interfere in its internal affairs”.
The French Foreign Ministry described the arrest of French citizen Martin Ryan in Azerbaijan on 4 December last year on suspicion of “espionage” as “arbitrary, null and void”.
It wasn’t like that at all.
Because it should be reminded that Ryan was detained on 4 December 2023 on suspicion of espionage in accordance with Article 276 of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code and was detained for 4 months during the investigation.
After the statement by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry that “This baseless statement is another attempt to distort the facts and interfere in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs”, it is no surprise that French embassy officials visited Ryan several times and told him to keep quiet.
The father of Martin Ryan, a Frenchman arrested in Azerbaijan on suspicion of espionage, confirmed his son’s involvement in espionage, which put the French Foreign Office on the back foot. In an interview with the AFP news agency, father Richard Ryan said that during a telephone conversation with his son, Martin told him that he had realised that there was a connection between his case and the diplomatic tensions between France and Azerbaijan.
Richard Ryan said, “One day he said to me: They wanted to use me as a pawn” and emphasised that his son “thought they could get away with it by alluding to the two exiled diplomats”.
The question arises: How could French intelligence officers, expelled for espionage and enjoying diplomatic immunity, want to use Martin Ryan “as a pawn”?
How did Martin Ryan spy?
Azerbaijani authorities arrested Martin Ryan on 4 December 2023 on espionage charges. Martin Ryan, CEO of the Baku-based company Merkorama LLC, was manipulated by the French agent of the 2nd DGSE (General Directorate of Foreign Security), who put him in secret cooperation.
The French Ambassador to Baku, Anne Bouillon, was informed that 2 employees of the French Embassy had been declared “persona non grata” by the Azerbaijani government for their activities in violation of diplomatic status and the 1961 Vienna Convention. These two agents were subsequently deported from Baku.
Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to France Leyla Abdullayeva announced that the judicial authorities had ordered her to be detained for 4 months and that the French Embassy in Baku was immediately notified of the arrest.
Investigations and arrests carried out by the State Security Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan in early December 2023 resulted in the exposure of a large network of agents of the French intelligence services in Azerbaijan. Dozens of French spies were soon identified, some of whom were operating in Azerbaijan in one form or another, while others continued to work undercover in various countries and reputable international organisations.
The company where French intelligence is nesting in Baku!…
MERKORAMA LLC is an Azerbaijani company based in Baku (Azerbaijan), founded in October 2020. They say they are an importer and distributor of food products and raw materials, primarily for the food service industry HORECA sector, sensitive to consumer demands and especially sensitive to new trends in the sector.
Horeca is the abbreviation for the food service industry. The term is a syllabic abbreviation of the words Hotel / Restaurant / Cafe. The Dutch Uniforme Voorwaarden Horeca is translated into English as Uniform Conditions for the Hotel and Catering Sector.
With this know-how and an experienced team from different backgrounds, extremely comfortable in a multicultural environment and with an excellent understanding of local business practices, they advise and support foreign companies from different sectors in their export and/or establishment projects in Azerbaijan. So it is a front company used for intelligence work.
Azerbaijan failure deposed the head of French intelligence…
In early December 2023, as a result of investigations and arrests carried out by the State Security Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the extensive intelligence network of the French special services was revealed. In a short period of time, dozens of French spies were identified, some of whom were operating in Azerbaijan at that time or earlier, while others continued their secret activities in various countries and reputable international organisations.
As it is known, on 20 December 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed Bernard Emier, head of the French Directorate General for External Security (DGSE).
Bernard Emier’ was conducting negotiations in the region against Turkey. In this context, it was known that they reached an agreement with Egyptian President Sisi on Libya.
Before his dismissal, he had visited Tel Aviv and then secretly the Lebanese capital Beirut. However, the plot in Baku was the end of his career. Macron appointed Nicholas Lerner, the head of the Internal Security Department, as the new head of foreign intelligence.
The real reason for the Paris tango is to sell arms to Yerevan.
Following Azerbaijan’s seizure of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the French government announced in October that it would sell air defence systems to Yerevan. In December, Baku expelled two French diplomats for “behaviour incompatible with their diplomatic status”. The French Foreign Ministry retaliated a day later by expelling two Azerbaijani diplomats, saying it “categorically rejects the allegations”.
Investigations and arrests carried out by the State Security Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan in early December 2023 resulted in the exposure in Azerbaijan of a large network of agents of the French intelligence services involved in various operations in Ukraine, covering Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, several countries in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.
In a short period of time, dozens of French spies were identified, some of them, in one way or another, were active in Azerbaijan, while others continued to work undercover in various countries and prestigious international organisations.
French citizen Martin Ryan has fallen victim to the actions of French intelligence working undercover in Azerbaijan. Embassy staff reportedly turned Ryan into a pawn in their dangerous game by forcing him to collect and transmit ‘sensitive’ information about third countries, particularly Iran and Turkey.
France, home to a large Armenian diaspora, also linked the Azerbaijani authorities to a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging France’s reputation as host of the 2024 Olympic Games.
The French never learnt not to mess with the Turks.
At the instigation of France, the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has recommended the strictest possible restrictions against Azerbaijan. Accordingly, Azerbaijan will be suspended from PACE for at least one year. It can be said that almost all of the committee members present at the meeting voted in favour of this resolution. This means that the Council will support the resolution.
Selected Bibliography
https://caliber.az/en/post/216055/
https://www.azernews.az/nation/220180.html
https://ria.ru/20231226/baku-1918171697.html
https://jam-news.net/french-spies-in-azerbaijan/
https://en.trend.az/azerbaijan/politics/3846793.html
https://www.linkedin.com/company/merkorama-llc?trk=similar-pages
https://www.reuters.com/world/french-national-held-azerbaijan-suspected-espionage-2024-01-09/
https://turan.az/en/politics/azerbaijan-rejects-french-accusations-of-martin-ryans-illegal-detention
https://parstoday.ir/tr/news/middle_east-i252478-azerbaycan’dan_fransa’ya_ yanıt_’İşlerimize_karışmayın’
https://www.qha.com.tr/turk-dunyasi/azerbaycan-da-fransa-lehine-casusluk-yapan-sahislar-tutuklandi-483814
https://www.qha.com.tr/turk-dunyasi/azerbaycan-avrupa-konseyi-parlamenterler-meclisinden-cikarildi-484548
https://iz.ru/1627285/kseniia-loginova/zdes-vam-ne-rady-azerbaidzhan-vyslal-dvukh-sotrudnikov-posolstva-frantcii
https://www.politico.eu/article/azerbaijan-detains-french-national-espionage-spy-martin-ryan-armenia-nagorno-karabakh/
https://tr.euronews.com/2024/01/10/fransa-ve-azerbaycan-arasinda-casus-krizi-baku-parisi-icislerine-mudahale-etmekle-sucladi
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240110-azerbaijan-tells-paris-not-to-intervene-over-frenchman-s-arrest-as-tensions-run-high
