CHIRAC ADVISES TURKEY TO FOLLOW GERMANY’S EXAMPLE AND RECOGNIZE THE GENOCIDE

Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 29 2006

French President Jacques Chirac declared in Yerevan today that Turkey
will turn into "a more mature country" if it accepts the mistakes of
its past, particularly the Armenian Genocide.

"After acknowledging the Holocaust, Germany did not lose its grandeur,"
Jacques Chirac noted, saying that the capacity to accept the dark
pages and mistakes of the past is a sign of the state’s maturity.

RA president Robert Kocharyan declared that Turkey’s entry talks with
the EU comprise no danger for Yerevan.

"We wish our neighbors to believe in democratic values and be
predictable. In this regard, Turkey’s desire to join the European
Union does not comprise danger for us. Att he same time we would like
the questions of concern for Armenia to find their solution during
these talks," Robert Kocharyan said.

Commenting on the draft envisaging penalty for Armenian Genocide
deniers presented by French Socialists, Jacques Chirac reminded that
"in 2001 France fully recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide,
and this law has equal force for everyone.