BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 27. The Baku
Initiative Group has condemned France’s rejection of a reform
granting autonomy to Corsica.
This was stated in a press release by Abbas Abbasov, executive
director of the Baku Initiative Group, following the French
Senate’s rejection of the constitutional reform on Corsican
autonomy:
“We, as the Baku Initiative Group, strongly condemn the French
Senate’s rejection of the constitutional reform granting autonomy
to Corsica. This decision is yet another manifestation of the
colonial mindset that still prevails in French political circles, a
blatant disregard for the will of the Corsican people, and a deep
chasm between official Paris’s statements on the right of peoples
to self-determination and its actual policies.
The events that took place on October 26, 2026, in the French
Senate demonstrated once again that the Macron regime is unwilling
to accept the Corsican people’s desire to determine their own
political future, preserve their national identity, and exercise
the right to self-government on their own land.
Such disregard for the political negotiations that have been
ongoing for more than four years, the agreements reached, and the
will expressed by Corsica’s democratically elected representatives
is unacceptable. In particular, the exclusion from the bill of
provisions recognizing the distinct historical, linguistic, and
cultural identity of the Corsicans, as well as their special
connection to their homeland, demonstrates the extent to which
France’s political elite refuses to acknowledge the collective
identity of the Corsican people.
France, on the one hand, attempts to lecture the world on
democracy, human rights, and the freedom of peoples, while on the
other hand, it perceives even the most basic political demands of
the peoples in the territories under its control as a threat.
Portraying the Corsican people’s demand for autonomy as a threat
to France’s unity seems particularly absurd. The preservation of a
people’s language, culture, historical identity, and political
authority is a fundamental right. The real threat lies in the
systematic rejection of these legitimate demands and the sacrifice
of the political will of the peoples to serve the interests of the
central government.
The Baku Initiative Group calls on the French authorities to
respect the legitimate will of the Corsican people, to recognize
their political, cultural, and linguistic rights, to remain
faithful to the agreements reached, and to demonstrate genuine
political will on the issue of autonomy; it also calls on the
international community, human rights organizations, and relevant
international institutions not to remain indifferent to this
injustice perpetrated by the French state against the legitimate
political demands of the Corsican people,” the statement reads.
