Unsurprisingly, Turkey lambastes Macron for declaring April 24 Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day

15:07, 6 February, 2019

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS. Turkey was quick to respond to French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent announcement on France declaring April 24th to be a National Day of Armenian Genocide Commemoration.

Being committed to the infamous denial policy, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin labeled Macron’s statement about the Armenian Genocide as “a political lie” and “strongly condemned” it, Anadolu reported. 

He even accused Macron in “trying to rescue himself by using historical events as political fodder”.

President Emmanuel Macron has said France will make April 24 “a national day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide”.

Speaking to the Armenian community at a dinner organized by the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organisations of France (CCAF), Macron said: “France is, first and foremost, the country that knows how to look history in the face, which was among the first to denounce the killing of the Armenian people, which in 1915 named genocide for what it was, which in 2001 after a long struggle recognised it in law”, according to France24.

France "will in the next weeks make April 24 a national day of commemoration of the Armenian genocide," he added.

Macron said he has informed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the decision to declare April 24th a National Day of Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in advance.

"We have disagreements over the fight against the Islamic State, human rights and civil liberties in Turkey and on the genocide," Macron said, according to Euronews.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan