BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 28. Two employees of the French Embassy in Azerbaijan have been declared persona non grata, said Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov during today's press conference on the results of 2023, Trend reports.
"It is worth noting that two years ago a note was sent to France saying that state bodies of Azerbaijan have serious facts regarding these persons. France declared two employees of our embassy as undesirable persons yesterday, without explanation. There is a difference between what we do and what they do. We speak specifically with facts that France refused to investigate," Bayramov noted.
On December 26, 2023, French ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne Boillon was summoned to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was informed that two embassy staff members had been declared persona non grata by the Azerbaijani government due to activities inconsistent with diplomatic status and in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961. These individuals were instructed to leave Azerbaijani territory within 48 hours, as stated in the note handed over to the ambassador.
The ambassador was handed a corresponding note by the Foreign Ministry.
Later, France declared the two Azerbaijani diplomats persona non grata. It was emphasized that the decision of the French Foreign Ministry was taken as a mutual measure.
Azerbaijani ambassador to France was summoned to the Quai d'Orsay in order to be informed about it.