Paris has accused Baku of fomenting chaos in its Pacific territory of New Caledonia. Azerbaijan denies the claims but the country's flag has repeatedly been spotted amid protests that have escalated into deadly violence in recent days.
Why Azerbaijan's Flag Is Flying Amid New Caledonia Unrest
Protesters in Noumea, New Caledonia, wave an Azerbaijani flag.
This January 2024 image is one of several showing flags and symbols of the distant Caucasus country being wielded by indigenous Kanak people ahead of the mass unrest that is currently roiling New Caledonia.
A protester in Noumea is photographed in March holding pictures of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and of an Azerbaijani war memorial.
The pictured memorial was recently unveiled in Azerbaijan's retaken Kalbacar district.
Azerbaijani flags began appearing in New Caledonia soon after political activists from several French territories were flown to Baku for a conference, called Towards The Complete Elimination Of Colonialism, in July 2023.
In this photo from the event, speakers sit behind flags used in the French territories of (left to right) French Guiana, New Caledonia, and Martinique.
A view over Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia
The Pacific archipelago is populated by around 41 percent indigenous Kanaks, with some 24 percent of the residents being Europeans of mostly French heritage.
Tensions between the two communities have previously erupted into deadly violence, most notably in 1984. However, in referendums on New Caledonia’s independence held in 2018, 2020, and 2021, voters chose to remain a French territory.
People, including a man carrying a Kanak flag, are seen as a nearby supermarket was looted in Noumea on May 14.
The current unrest broke out after Paris changed New Caledonia’s constitution to allow people who have lived in the territory for 10 years or more to vote. Kanak leaders have accused Paris of seeking to dilute the democratic power of the indigenous population.
At the July 2023 conference in Azerbaijan, the creation of the Baku Initiative Group was announced, with the stated goal to "support the fight against neo-colonialism and colonialism."
The Baku Initiative Group’s director, Abbas Abbasov, is seen here with Azerbaijani and Kanak flags during a video address in which he praised protesters on April 26.
Protesters wave Kanak flags during a demonstration against the voting law on April 13.
As protests were spreading in New Caledonia, the Baku group posted a call for the "mobilization" of Kanaks on May 8 to protest the "recolonization" of New Caledonia. Since May 13, at least six people have died in the unrest.
A roadblock in Ducos, New Caledonia, with a sign saying, "There will be no peace for fascists," on May 21.
Paris has accused Azerbaijan of stoking tensions in New Caledonia in revenge for French support for ethnic Armenians amid the recent war over Nagorno-Karabakh, a charge Baku dismisses.
A group of protesters in New Caledonia hold Kanak and (bottom right) the Azerbaijani flag.
Azerbaijani President Aliyev has said his interest in France's overseas territories lies in helping indigenous people "to organize and conduct systematic and consistent efforts to eradicate [colonialism]."