ARE WE READY TO SUPPORT THE PRO-ARMENIAN EFFORTS OF FRANCE?
by Lana Mshetsyan’s

Golos Armenii, Yerevan,
17 Oct 06 p 1

The bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide, which has
been adopted by the French parliament and is waiting to be approved
by the Senate, is certainly something that can be called a turning
point and even a historic event. Not just because it is an event of
great significance, but also because events that seemed impossible
before are now becoming a possibility. There was no doubt that such
events would take place.

Of course, we can be sure that the developments of the last few
decades will accelerate in the sense that more states will recognize
the Armenian genocide and in the sense that we may be more confident
that the process will globalize in the future and achieve its final
goal. But it is hard to predict some other developments as they heavily
depend on Turkey’s response to the adoption of the pro-Armenian law
by France and on the likelihood of yesterday’s threats becoming a
reality tomorrow. A lot is difficult to predict here, a lot of things
can affect us only indirectly and we may have no influence on many
events. For instance, the problem of Turkey’s membership of the EU
or its refusal to fulfil bilateral trade agreements.

At the same time, there might be situations in which our participation
will be unavoidable. We should take a firm position on such situations
and support France in its pro-Armenian policy although it may create
paradoxes. For instance, Turkey is threatening to deport all Armenian
citizens from Turkey. Are we sure that the Armenian authorities will
display an appropriate reaction, i.e. are they ready to deport all
Turks living in Armenia?

Let us note that Armenians living in Turkey are very unfortunate
people because they often earn money doing humiliating jobs. But the
Turks living in Armenia, including Azerbaijanis, who pretend they
are Iranians, are smart and impudent dealers who uncontrollably rob
Armenia. For this reason, this mutual deportation is beneficial for us.

But today the point is whether we are ready to support France in
all its pro-Armenian efforts. Undoubtedly, we are not sure as all
the pro-Armenian initiatives of France are supported with unclear
obstinacy only in the legislative sphere in our country. Isn’t it
a shame for us that France is the only country of the world that
adopted a second law on the Armenian genocide? Why didn’t Armenia
become such a country as well? We can say that this is demagogy as
everything regarding the genocide is so clear in Armenia that it does
not require legislative approval. But not everything is so clear as
the adoption of such laws may insult Turks and even make them angry,
and somebody in our country is scared of this most of all. The French
were not afraid to insult the Turks again and even make them angry.

But one can tell us that Armenia is not France and they have their
own interests in this issue. Who argues? But Ottoman Turkey carried
out genocide against the Armenians, not against the French in the
early 20th century. It is not enough to say "thank you", it is time
to clearly support France in all its pro-Armenian efforts. We should
be ready for any steps that Turkey, which is insulted and angry with
France, might force us to take. France has left no room for us to
doubt, and we are grateful to France for this.