Baku Initiative Group issues statement backing Kanaky–New Caledonia independence forces

The Baku Initiative Group (BIG) has congratulated the pro-independence forces of Kanaky–New Caledonia on the results they achieved in the provincial elections held on June 28.

According to Report, the support statement issued by the BIG noted that the official results clearly reflect the existing political reality: pro-independence political forces have achieved both a strategic and democratically significant victory over the archipelago's conservative and loyalist forces.

The statement indicates that these elections were held in an extremely complex political environment, influenced by the tensions that occurred in 2024, the discussions surrounding the future governance status of the territory, the propaganda of the French state, the pressures from local colonialist right-wing forces, and France's unilateral decisions regarding the expansion of the electorate.

According to the statement, despite attempts to abolish the frozen status of the electorate and to isolate the voice of the indigenous people, the unity of pro-independence forces has confirmed its political superiority over the colonialist forces: 26 seats won in favor of full sovereignty. This new balance of political forces further strengthens the role and influence of patriotic forces fighting for freedom and self-determination in shaping the country's future governance model.

The Baku Initiative Group highly valued the heroic resistance of the Kanak people:

"This new political situation that has emerged in the Kanaky–New Caledonia Congress demonstrates that neither pressures nor Paris's blind support for the interests of the descendants of settler colonizers can extinguish the desire for freedom of a people who stand firm. The political defeat of the loyalists is an important lesson for colonial powers, including with regard to other territories under French colonialism: the right to self-determination is an inalienable right, and historical legitimacy always prevails over the de facto situation created as a result of colonialism. This matter is not a domestic issue that France can resolve unilaterally in accordance with its own political interests, but rather a matter of decolonization within the framework of international law."

The Baku Initiative Group once again reaffirms its solidarity with the pro-independence forces of Kanaky–New Caledonia, as well as with all voices peacefully fighting for the recognition of the right to self-determination and the completion of the decolonization process.