FORMER FRENCH MINISTER EXPRESSES REGRET OVER BACKING ARMENIAN BILL
Hurriyet
Feb 4 2009
Turkey
ANKARA – A former French minister said he felt guilty and regretful
for voting in favor of a law that recognized the 1915 incidents as
"genocide" in 2001. His remarks incited fierce reactions among the
Armenian diaspora in France.
"At that time I believed it was both a spiritual and historical
correction. But I am not sure now if I would do the same," Jack Lang,
France’s former culture minister, told a conference organized by a
website titled "Turquie Europeenne".
The video of the conference containing Lang’s remarks was only recently
released in the country.
The issue of the 1915 incidents is highly sensitive for Turkey as
well as Armenia. Around 300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks,
died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took up arms, backed
by Russia, for independence in eastern Anatolia.
However Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5
million of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in
1915. The issue remains unsolved as Armenia drags its feet in accepting
Turkey’s proposal of forming a commission to investigate the claims.
Lang said he had voted against a controversial bill adopted by the
French parliament making it a crime to deny recognition of 1915
incidents as "genocide", because the action was abused for election
interests.
"The denial bill was passed with the aim of an election investment,
not because they understood the pains of Armenians. Accordingly it
is dangerous that history is made by politicians," he said.
Lang, 69, was one of the strongest supporters of 2001’s Armenian
bill in French parliament, and as head of the Parliamentary Foreign
Relations Commission, he pressured the French Senate to pass the
bill immediately. He ran to be the Socialist Party’s presidential
candidate for the 2007 elections.
The Armenian diaspora in France directed fierce criticism at Lang
over his recently published remarks. Armenian organizations in
France sent letters of protest to several current and former leaders
from the Socialist Party, and accused Lang of insulting France and
humanitarian values.