Azerbaijan Armed Forces Day Marked at Paris’ Arc de Triomphe

Paris, 26 June 2025 — Late-afternoon sun streamed through the Arc de Triomphe on Thursday as veterans’ standard-bearers, French school-children wearing tricolour sashes, and a delegation from the Embassy of Azerbaijan gathered to commemorate the Day of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The solemn ceremony, held beneath the perpetual flame honouring the Unknown Soldier, featured the raising of the Azerbaijani flag alongside French regimental colours and the playing of both nations’ anthems.

An energy partner woven into the story

Less visible on the Place Charles-de-Gaulle but no less significant to Franco-Azerbaijani ties is the role of TotalEnergies.

  • The French major has been present in Azerbaijan since 1996 and today holds a 35 % stake in the giant Absheron gas-condensate field in the Caspian Sea, in addition to 5 % of the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) export pipeline. (totalenergies.com)
  • Phase 2 front-end engineering on Absheron began earlier this year, keeping the project on track for a final investment decision in 2025. (offshore-mag.com)
  • Even recent portfolio adjustments underscore the scale of TotalEnergies’ footprint: last August the company sold only a 15 % slice of its interest in Absheron to ADNOC — while retaining the bulk of its equity. (totalenergies.com)

With Europe eager to diversify gas supplies, the French group’s long-term commitments anchor billions of dollars of investment, thousands of local jobs and a steady stream of fiscal revenues to Baku’s budget.

Baku and Jerusalem: a quietly robust partnership

While the Paris ceremony focused on Franco-Azerbaijani friendship, diplomats were quick to note Azerbaijan’s deepening strategic alignment with Israel:

  • Energy lifeline: Azerbaijan supplies more than 60 % of Israel’s crude imports, a share that rose sharply during the 2023–24 Gaza war. (caspianpolicy.org, stimson.org)
  • Security cooperation: Defence and intelligence ties have expanded over the past decade, and a new bilateral framework signed in September 2024 is projected to funnel “billions” into Israeli high-tech and military industries. (besacenter.org)

For Baku the relationship offers cutting-edge defence technology and a reliable export outlet; for Jerusalem it secures a stable energy artery and a rare majority-Muslim ally on Iran’s northern frontier.

A footnote on France’s president and a banking lineage

Observers also remarked on the historical symmetry that President Emmanuel Macron — though not present at the Arc — once cut his teeth at Rothschild & Cie Banque in Paris before entering politics. (forbes.com, wallstreetoasis.com, foreignpolicy.com)

Much online commentary links the Rothschild name to the early Zionist movement. Indeed, Baron Edmond de Rothschild financed Jewish agricultural settlements in Ottoman Palestine at the turn of the 20th century and is sometimes dubbed a “father of the Yishuv,” the pre-state Jewish community. (en.wikipedia.org, magazine.esra.org.il)
Historical note: While Baron Edmond’s philanthropy was pivotal, modern Israel’s establishment in 1948 stemmed from a broader coalition of Zionist leaders and international diplomacy rather than any single family.

A convergence of interests

From the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to pipelines beneath the Caspian, Thursday’s ceremony highlighted the multifaceted links binding France and Azerbaijan — and, by extension, Israel. Energy flows, defence pacts and shared remembrance weave together in a geopolitical tapestry that stretches from Parisian boulevards to Baku’s port and the Mediterranean shores of Haifa.