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By Nailia Bagirova
SHUSHA, Azerbaijan (Reuters) - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pledged on Saturday to help France's overseas territories secure independence, the latest in a series of incidents pitting his ex-Soviet state against Paris over long-running conflicts in the Caucasus region.
Aliyev accuses France of interfering in its affairs over its contacts with Armenia, against which it has waged two wars in 30 years linked to disputes over Baku's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
In recent months, Azerbaijani leaders have focused on France's South Pacific territory of New Caledonia, gripped by weeks of violence over the objections of Indigenous Kanak activists to a contentious electoral reform.
Aliyev made his latest comments at a media forum days before the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris and just after the staging in Baku of a congress bringing together pro-independence groups from New Caledonia and other French territories.
"We will support you until you are free," Aliyev told the forum, citing French territories that he said were still subject to colonialism.
"Some countries are still suffering from this. The Comoros islands, Mayotte are still under colonial rule. It has been our duty to help these countries liberate themselves from this revolting remnant from the past."
Earlier this week, an "initiative group" staged a congress in Baku attended by pro-independence groups from New Caledonia and other French territories, including Corsica and Caribbean and Pacific islands.
French media accounts of the meeting said participants sharply criticised French authorities and an Azerbaijani delegation was invited to visit New Caledonia.
France accused Azerbaijan in May of meddling and abetting unrest in New Caledonia by flooding social media with what it said were misleading photos and videos targeting French police.
Azerbaijan has denied the allegations.
Azerbaijani authorities accuse France of bias in favour of Armenia in efforts to achieve a peace treaty to end three decades of conflict and in signing defence contracts with authorities in Yerevan. Azerbaijan expelled two French diplomats last December.
(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova, Editing by Ron Popeski and Sandra Maler)
