FRENCH SOCIALIST LEADER VISITS ARMENIA, URGES GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
By Anna Saghabalian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 6 2007
Recognition of the Armenian genocide must be a precondition for
Turkey’s membership in the European Union, the first secretary of
France’s main opposition Socialist Party (PS) said during a visit to
Armenia on Thursday.
Francois Hollande arrived in Yerevan at the invitation of the governing
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), which has a
warm rapport with his party. Official sources said Turkish-Armenian
relations featured large during his separate talks with President
Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian.
"It can’t be possible for us to accept a country that has not addressed
its historical record into Europe," Hollande said after the talks,
expressing the PS’s position on Turkey’s membership in the EU.
"We insist on that not to complicated but to facilitate Turkey’s
accession process."
The comments echoed statements made by France’s former President
Jacques Chirac. "Should Turkey recognize the genocide of Armenia to
join the European Union? Honestly, I believe so," during an official
visit to Yerevan in September last year.
Other EU leaders, however, have repeatedly spoken out against making
Turkey’s accession to the 25-nation bloc contingent on genocide
recognition.
Hollande reaffirmed his party’s support for a Socialist-drafted bill
that would it a crime in France to publicly state that the 1915-1918
mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman did not constitute a genocide.
The bill was adopted by the lower house of the French parliament
last year despite vehement protests from Ankara. To become a law,
it needs to be passed by the French Senate.
Hollande denied that the PS initiative was aimed at winning the votes
of France’s sizable Armenian community. "It’s not for electoral reasons
that I make such a choice," he told a news conference. "This bill
is a matter of solidarity and honor. This is more than an Armenian
issue because if the genocide is not remembered, nobody will be able
to guarantee that there will be no repeat of such tragic events."
Hollande went on to urge Turkey to unconditionally establishment
diplomatic relations and open its border with Armenia. A statement
by the Armenian Foreign Ministry quoted him as telling Oskanian that
this must happen "as soon as possible." It said Oskanian briefed
him on Yerevan’s position on Turkish-Armenian relations and the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Armenia’s ties with France were also high on the agenda of the talks,
with Kocharian saying that they are "strengthening every year" and
encompassing new spheres. Hollande was cited by Kocharian’s office
as saying that the French Socialists are ready to assist in the
"implementation of new programs and proposals aimed at developing
cooperation between the two countries."