Following Defeat of Genocide Bill in France, French Armenians Pin Hopes on Sarkozy’s Opponent

French Bureau of the Armenian Cause [Bureau Français de la Cause Arménienne (BFCA)] director Hratch Varjabedian, at a press conference in Yerevan today, said he is convinced that Turkey spent about $100 million in the past year to simply eradicate the French Senate bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide.

“Appropriate action against these steps by Turkey is expected from our country, because Turkey has put its full weight on ‘eradicating’ (said in quotation marks) the Armenian Diaspora, particularly the segment residing in Europe. They will try everything to organize this eradication politically,” he said.

According to Varjabedian, France today is divided between pro-Armenian and pro-Turkish parties.

“Fortunately, 80% of the French people are pro-Armenian, but on a political and intellectual level and in the press, France is divided into two parts and that’s a fact,” he said.

Armenia’s pledge to succeed, Varjabedian said, is in the unity and conviction of France’s Armenian community.

“The text of the French Senate bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide shouldn’t be prepared quickly, as was the case this time. It has to have legal protection and it has to be presented quickly — not on the mandates’ last days, so that it can succeed. There is one goal, for Turkey to be unable to ensure the number of senators that it had this [last] time voting against [the bill]. This bill shouldn’t have been presented so quickly, and that, at the last moment, when there are electoral accounts in France,” said another speaker at today’s press conference, BFCA representative Mourad Papazian, adding that both current French President Nicolas Sarkozy and presidential candidate François Hollande guarantee that following elections, they will ensure all the necessary conditions for adoption of the bill.

“As for why Sarkozy didn’t sign [the bill], I don’t want to comment — he simply didn’t. We already have this practice with Sarkozy, that he didn’t fulfill his promise, while Hollande promised and went halfway — but the other half wasn’t in his hands. We have to have those ties with Hollande that we didn’t have with Sarkozy, so that we could’ve obliged him to stand up to his promise. For 15 years, we’ve had these ties with Hollande, as for whether he’ll stand up to his promise, the future will show. In this case, our hope is greater,” said the French Bureau of the Armenian Cause representative.