Azeri lawmakers call for France to lose Karabakh mediation role over senate resolution

FILE PHOTO: A general view shows Hadrut town, which recently came under the control of Azerbaijan's troops following a military conflict against ethnic Armenian forces and a further signing of a ceasefire deal, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, November 25, 2020. REUTERS/Aziz Karimov

BAKU (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's parliament called on Thursday for France to be stripped of its mediation role in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to punish the French Senate for adopting a resolution backing the region's independence.

The French resolution adopted on Nov. 25 followed a Russia-brokered ceasefire ending weeks of fighting in the mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, part of Azerbaijan mainly populated by ethnic Armenians. The ceasefire has been hailed as a victory in Azerbaijan, which recovered control of large swathes of territory held by Armenians since the early 1990s.