FRENCH ARMENIANS ADVISE CAUTION FOR EU PARLIAMENT’S GENOCIDE PROPOSAL
February 17, 2015 – 17:13 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – The co-chair of the Co-ordination Council of
Armenian Organizations of France Ara Toranyan urged to take a cautious
approach for the Motion ofArmenian Genocide submitted to the European
Parliament.
Several months ahead of the Genocide centenary, such an initiative
might have been welcomed by the Europe’s Armenian community, if there
wasn’t for one “if,” RFI said.
“The victims of the Armenian Genocide do not belong to us, or some
political force. We can’t strip someone of a right to act. Our
organization tried to prevent political forces from assuming the
right to speak on behalf of the victims. We were always attempting to
promote a compromise between French political forces, lest the issue
of Genocide became a subject of political speculation,” Toranyan said.
“As for the initiative of far-left politicians – I believe that the
Genocide was a result of a discrimination-based totalitarian ideology.
So we should take a cautious approach to such initiatives, especially
since the latters are offered by movements with a questionable position
on discrimination practices,” he noted.
According to RFI, the wary attitude of Armenian Diaspora is quite
understandable: back in 2012, on Jan 29, Marine Le Pen stated at
one of her presidential election campaigns, “this whole Genocide
recognition movement outrages me.”
The leader of the Front National also stated, “First we must deal with
our own issues, without the French parliament trying to interfere
in the Armenian-Turkish history.” At the same time, she stressed
that Turkey, an official candidate for the EU accession since 2005,
does not belong with Europe, the Genocide recognition being among
key conditions to join the EU.
In early February, Belgian MEP Gerolf Annemans, chairman of Vlaams
Belang party, submitted to European Parliament a motion calling on
Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
From: Baghdasarian