French actor Gérard Depardieu has told the Azerbaijani envoy that he did not call for financial aid for the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic.
Armenian media are reporting that the Oscar-winning actor called for financial assistance for Nagorno-Karabakh as part of a fund-raising campaign by the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund.
The Azerbaijani ambassador to France, Elchin Amirbayov, said Depardieu had expressed surprise at the reports, describing them as wishful thinking.
“Depardieu said this information is untrue, since he, as a man of peace, does not accept and condemns any kind of occupation, wherever it occurs. As someone far from politics, he does not take any position on this issue,” the ambassador said.
Depardieu said he was being manipulated, which he considered unacceptable.
He reminded the ambassador that in September this year he refused to take part in the opening of the Karot-2010 film festival in Karabakh and visited only Yerevan.
“According to Depardieu, he realized at once that it was a trap and therefore did not visit Khankandi, visiting only Armenia, where he was handed an award,” Amirbayov said.
The actor said that he had equal respect for all nations and had, therefore, decided to visit Azerbaijan to attend the festival in memory of his friend, Mstislav Rostropovich, in December.
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