PACE CHIEF CRITICIZES CHIRAC GENOCIDE REMARKS
Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Oct 2 2006
The Council of Europe’s parliamentary leader criticized Monday
suggestions by French President Jacques Chirac that Ankara should
recognize World War I era massacres of Armenians as genocide if it
wanted to join the European Union.
"One can’t change the rules in the middle of the game," Council of
Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President Rene van der Linden
told reporters, referring to EU membership conditions for Turkey.
Referring to the French President, who said Saturday that Turkey
needed to come to terms with its Ottoman past, van der Linden said:
"This is not the first time he has changed his mind."
The EU has not made recognizing the 1915-1917 massacres as genocide
a condition for entry into the block, and up until Saturday France
had refused to make a direct link between the two. But when asked
in Yerevan whether the two should be linked, Chirac said "Honestly,
I think so."
"If there are serious questions, we will tackle them but we don’t
add to (existing) conditions," van der Linden said in describing the
procedure for entry into the EU. "If there is a loss of confidence,
we create mistrust then the entire negotiation will suffer," then
lawmaker added.
Founded 60 years ago, the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe is not
part of the European Union.
In a related development, a leading French Socialist who hopes to run
for the presidency said Sunday his party shared Chirac’s view on the
Armenian genocide. "This is also the position of the Socialist Party,"
said former finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a contender
for selection as the Socialist candidate for next year’s French
presidential election.
Turkey strongly denies responsibility for genocide, arguing that
300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in an internal
conflict sparked by attempts by Armenians to win independence in
eastern Anatolia.
"We have considered that acknowledgment … of the Armenian genocide
should be made a condition of Turkey’s entry into the EU," Strauss-Kahn
said on television. "There are plenty of other conditions, but this
one is symbolic," he stressed.
France, with 400,000 citizens of Armenian descent, officially
recognized the events as genocide in 2001, putting a strain on
relations with Turkey. Previously, however, France had refused to make
a direct link between the genocide issue and Turkey’s EU membership
bid. The bloc of 25 nations has not made it a condition.