France Hails German Recognition Of Armenian Genocide ::France pledged to strive for greater international recognition of the
1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey after welcoming a
corresponding resolution adopted by Germany’s parliament on Thursday.
“I welcome the Bundestag vote for recognition of the Armenian
genocide,” French Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Desir
wrote on Twitter shortly after the passage of the resolution.
“France will continue to fight for universal recognition of the
Armenian genocide,” added Desir.
France is one of 24 countries of the world that have officially
recognized as genocide the 1915 slaughter of some 1.5 million Armenian
subjects of the Ottoman Empire. It did so with a special law enacted
in 2001. French President Francois Hollande was among foreign leaders
who attended in April 2015 official ceremonies in Yerevan marking the
centenary of the Armenian genocide.
Four years ago, the French parliament passed another law which made it
a crime to publicly deny the genocide. France’s constitutional court
subsequently struck it down as unconstitutional, however. The law was
initiated by Hollande’s predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Unlike Germany, France is home to a large Armenian community that
mostly consists of descendants of genocide survivors. The CCAF, an
umbrella structure uniting the community’s main organizations, was
quick to welcome the Bundestag vote as a “fatal blow” to Turkey’s
long-running policy of genocide denial.
“This vote marked a decisive stage in the fight for Turkey’s
recognition of this historical fact, universal condemnation of the
genocide, and justice and reparations for the Armenian people,” the
CCAF said in a statement.
The leading Armenian advocacy groups in the United States also hailed
the German resolution angrily condemned by Ankara. They have for
decades been lobbying for an official U.S. recognition of the
genocide.
“The Armenian Assembly of America applauds the Bundestag’s principled
stand, especially as Turkey continues to blockade Armenia, refuses to
normalize relations with Armenia and unconditionally supported
Azerbaijan’s recent attempt to once again wipe Armenians off the map
in Nagorno-Karabakh,” said its executive director, Bryan Ardouny.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), for its part, used
the “historic vote” in Berlin to again decry President Barack Obama’s
failure to honor his past pledges to refer to the Armenian massacres
as genocide. “There is still time for President Obama to follow
Germany’s lead, reject Turkey’s gag-rule, and speak honestly about the
Armenian Genocide,” said Aram Hamparian, the ANCA director.
