ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MONUMENT STOLEN IN FRANCE
By Foreign News Desk

Zaman Online, Turkey
Oct 15 2006

A bronze monument erected in 2002 in the village of Chaville near
Paris commemorating the Armenian genocide was stolen.

Stephane Topalian, a member of an Armenian church in the village,
said the bronze monument was probably stolen on Friday night.

It was notable that the incident happened just two days after the
French parliament approved a bill that penalizes denial of the
Armenian genocide.

"Police say it might have been stolen for the metal, but it seems
too much of a coincidence that this should have happened just after
parliament voted on the Armenia bill," Topalian said.

Meanwhile, Socialist Party member and former French Culture Minister
Jack Lang opposed the approval of the bill.

Lang urged French and Turkish academics to organize a conference over
the issue.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders also protested the French
parliament for approving the bill.