Epress.am News from Armenia
As long as it’s Turkey’s state policy to deny the Armenian Genocide, other countries will make similar decisions to adopt a law criminalizing genocide denial as France did recently, said Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian in an interview with the Austrian daily Der Standard.
To the interviewer’s statement that critics say the law is tied to the French presidential elections and point to the large Armenian community in France, Nalbandian said: “No, that’s not true. The law has the full support of the French president, the government and all relevant political parties — whether they be right- or left-wing. It was adopted by the National Assembly and the Senate. Thus, passage of the law reflects the opinion of the entire French people. This was also the case in 2001, when France adopted the law on recognizing the Armenian Genocide.”
Asked whether law isn’t counterproductive in efforts to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia, the Armenian foreign minister said the law could only help normalize relations.
“If anything is hindering normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations it’s the approach of the Turkish side. Following the signing of the protocols in Zurich in October 2009, Turkey took a step back by refusing to ratify the agreements. The international community finds that the ball is now in Turkey’s court,” he said.
The journalist pointed out that a group of French senators and lawmakers appealed to the country’s Constitutional Council, which must now decide whether the law is compatible with the French Constitution. This appeal shows that the genocide law is debatable, he said.
“I don’t think it’s right for anyone to intervene in the Constitutional Council’s decision-making process, as some representatives of Turkey try to do. They have congratulated themselves on successfully lobbying those French senators who appealed to the Constitutional Council and thank Azerbaijan for its efforts in this direction. Those senators who signed the appeal to the Constitutional Council have been provided with an invitation to Baku with great honor. I don’t think that such an approach would be welcomed in a European country,” he replied.