CHIRAC CALLS ON TURKEY TO ‘RECOGNIZE ITS PAST’

Hindu, India
Sept 30 2006

Yerevan, Sept. 30 (AP): The French President, Jacques Chirac, called
on Turkey on Saturday to "recognize its past" in connection with the
mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century and acknowledge
them as genocide.

"Should Turkey recognize the genocide of Armenia to join the European
Union?" Chirac asked, echoing a question posed by a reporter at a joint
news conference with Armenian President Robert Kocharian. "Honestly,
I believe so. Each country grows by acknowledging its dramas and
errors of the past."

Armenians say that as many as 1.5 million of their ancestors were
killed in 1915-1923 in an organized campaign and have pushed for
recognition of the killings as genocide around the world. Turkey
rejects the claim that a mass evacuation and related deaths of
Armenians was genocide and says the death toll is inflated.

Chirac’s comments went farther than in the past, using the word
genocide directly for the first time. In 2004, Chirac said Turkey
should recognize the killings and make "an effort at memory" to join
the EU, and France’s parliament has officially recognized the killings
as genocide.

Many French have grave misgivings about Turkey entering the EU, fearing
an influx of cheap labor and questioning Turkey’s human rights record.