BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 28. The ONESXM
Association, an independence movement in the French- and
Dutch-administered island of Saint Martin, has expressed support
for Azerbaijan and the Baku Initiative Group (BIG), while
criticizing France's colonial policy.


According to the Baku Initiative Group, the association firmly
rejected allegations by three members of the French National
Assembly targeting Azerbaijan's and the Baku Initiative Group's
support for decolonization efforts. It also criticized the
lawmakers' characterization of President Ilham Aliyev's remarks on
French-administered territories as interference in France's
internal affairs.


The association argued that colonialism, decolonization and the
right of peoples to self-determination are matters of international
law rather than France's domestic affairs. "Decolonization is not
France's internal affair. It is an unfinished international
responsibility," the statement said.


ONESXM stressed that the principles of self-determination are
enshrined in Article 1 of the UN Charter and further reinforced by
UN General Assembly Resolution 1514, the 1960 Declaration on the
Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.


The organization described the work of the Baku Initiative Group
in giving a voice to peoples living under colonial administration
as legitimate and consistent with international law. It said that
portraying international support for decolonization as foreign
interference fails to address the concerns raised by colonized
peoples seeking to determine their own political future.


Recalling that New Caledonia and French Polynesia remain on the
United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories, ONESXM said
their future cannot be treated as an issue on which only France has
a legitimate voice. It also argued that formal integration into the
French state does not, by itself, signify the end of colonialism or
guarantee equal political, economic and social rights.


The association renewed its call for the immediate organization
of an official referendum in Saint Martin, allowing residents to
vote "yes" or "no" on independence.


According to the Baku Initiative Group, the statement
demonstrates that international support for decolonization efforts
continues to grow and highlights the organization's role as a
platform for advancing dialogue on self-determination.