French President Nicolas Sarkozy has stated that he will eventually secure the adoption of a bill recognising the 1915 genocide of Armenians by Turkey, after it was deemed unconstitutional by France’s Constitutional Council.
Sarkozy, who is running for re-election in April, made the pledge whilst addressing a French Armenian community on Wednesday. Speaking at the p residential Elysee Palace in Paris, he said,
“I have asked the government to prepare a new text. I can assure you of my desire to push it through, and I renew this solemn pledge in front of you.”
“To all you whose families were decimated by an absolutely planned extermination, to all you who regard today as a threat the obstinate [Turkish] denialism turned into state policy, I want to tell that France is on your side to refuse, to fight and to suppress the unacceptable.”
Following the speech, Chairman of the Armenian National Committee of France Mourad Papazian stated that,
“Both Sarkozy and his frontrunner rival Francois Hollande are in agreement over the draft proposal to criminalize denial of the genocide.”
“Moreover, as Armenians we are going to continue waging our righteous struggle and pick it up where it was left once again.”
See our earlier post: France’s Genocide denial law put on hold (06 Feb 2012)
