FORMER FRENCH CULTURE MINISTER CAN’T DECIDE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.02.2009 13:58 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian community of France urged former
French Culture Minister to explain his position on the Armenian
Genocide issue.

Jack Lang, a Socialist politician and a staunch supporter of the
Armenian genocide bill that was passed by the French Parliament in
2001, retreated from his position when appearing in a Web-broadcasted
video record of an October 11, 2008 debate with the Liberte pour
l’histoire (Freedom for History) association, a group led by historian
Pierre Nora.

"I passed the first resolution of the National Assembly on the
recognition, in quotes, can we say, because it is also necessary that
historians do their work, the Armenian genocide. I voted because
I thought it was an act of moral and repair history, and given the
absolute refusal of the Turkish government to accept any discussion,
any debate on this subject, it seemed to me the French National
Assembly could perform this act. I do not know if I react the same way
today, but in any case I have voted. And at the time, I was chairman
of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, so I am
doubly guilty, if I may say, MP and chairman of the Foreign Affairs
Committee. However, I am prepared with force against the second law
on Armenia, already at that time I committed a crime, vis a vis the
instructions of my own group, I refused to vote as a text monstrous,"
he said.

Lang claimed that the parliamentarians voted for the law not because
of their allegiance to a nation or a history, but in order to garner
votes and labeled the 2001 bill that recognized the Armenian genocide
denial as a horrible mistake.

Moved by these remarks, Alexis Govciyan, president of the Federation
of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF), addressed an open letter
to the parliamentarian, requesting him for an explanation.

As a response to the stormy reaction of the Armenian community, Lang,
who is currently on a visit to Japan, said he is "saddened by the
dishonest campaign orchestrated against him."

"I do not have to get into argument with anyone. I do not need to be
taught a lesson," he told AFP.

"I will work for international recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
specifically by Turkey," he said.