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Sarkisian Urges Turkey To ‘Repent’

President Serzh Sarkisian has urged Turkey to “repent” for the World War One-era massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and expressed confidence that Ankara will eventually recognize them as genocide.

France – President Serzh Sarkisian speaks at an official reception in Marseille, 7Dec2011.

“We believe that Turkey must repent,” he said during a visit to France’s second largest city of Marseille late on Wednesday. “That is neither a precondition nor a desire to exact revenge. Turkey must come face to face with its history.”

“One day Turkey’s leadership will find the strength to reassess its approaches to the Armenian Genocide,” Sarkisian said, speaking at an official reception organized in his honor by Marseille’s Mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin and attended by prominent members of the local Armenian community.

“Sooner or later Turkey, which considers itself a European country, will have a truly European leadership that will bow its head at the Tsitsernakabert [genocide memorial in Yerevan,]” claimed the Armenian leader. “The sooner the better, but that is up to the Turkish people.”

There was no immediate reaction to the remarks from Ankara which vehemently denies that some 1.5 million Armenians were massacred by the Ottoman Turks in 1915-1918.

France – President Serzh Sarkisian speaks at an official reception in Marseille, 7Dec2011.

Successive Turkish governments have said that Armenians died in much smaller numbers and as a result of civil strife, rather than a premeditated government effort to exterminate a key Christian minority in the crumbling Ottoman Empire.

Turkish leaders reacted angrily after French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged them to stop denying the genocide during an October visit to Armenia. “Collective denial is even worse than individual denial,” Sarkozy said after laying flowers at the Tsitsernakabert memorial. He also implicitly threatened to enact a law that would make Armenian genocide denial a crime in France.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip accused Sarkozy of playing the anti-Turkish card to secure reelection next year and warned of serious damage to relations between France and Turkey.

By contrast, Sarkisian was full of praise for the French leader. “We must simply be grateful to the wise president of this beautiful country,” he told the mostly French-Armenian audience.

In his speech, Sarkisian did not mention the future of the Turkish-Armenian normalization agreements signed two years ago. Earlier this year, he threatened to withdraw Yerevan’s signature from the agreements if Ankara continues to make their parliamentary ratification contingent on the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

via Sarkisian Urges Turkey To ‘Repent’.

December 11, 2011
Peace, reconciliation not possible unless Turkey faces its own history – French Ambassador

YEREVAN.- Peace and reconciliation are not possible unless Turkey faces its own history, France’s Ambassador to Armenia Henri Reynaud told journalist on Monday.

Commenting on France’s stance on the EU accession, the Ambassador recalled Nicolas Sarkozy’s position. In particular, acknowledging the role and essence of Turkey, President Sarkozy is confident that Turkey should not join the Union. French leader considers that Turkey, a big and strong country, will further strengthen its positions by recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

via Peace, reconciliation not possible unless Turkey faces its own history – French Ambassador | Armenia News – NEWS.am.

October 18, 2011
‘Colonialism had effect on Rwanda’

İpek Yezdani – ipek.yezdani@hurriyet.com.tr

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

European colonial history was a major contributor to what eventually became genocide in Rwanda, according to the chief prosecutor of the International Rwanda Criminal Court.

“The Rwandan genocide that took place in 1994 clearly it has its roots in the colonial history,” Hassan Bubacar Jallow, who was in Istanbul to give a conference at Istanbul Bilgi University yesterday, said in an interview following the event.

“During the European colonization of the country, which [turned] this difference between Tutsis and Hutus into so-called positions of superiority and inferiority in the country, eventually led to the genocide,” Jallow said, adding both Belgium and France were “colonial powers of one type or another” in Rwanda.

When the genocide started in 1994, the world had the opportunity and the means to stop the killings but did not, Jallow said.

“Over a hundred days, thousands of people were killed every day until 1 million people were killed. It took the intervention of then-Rwandan rebels to bring the genocide to an end. The inability or reluctance of the world in intervening when the genocide was on was very unfortunate,” Jallow said.

Jallow said they were hoping to finish their work at the level of the International Criminal Court established by the United Nations by the end of 2014.

“By that time we won’t be prosecuting everybody because it is impossible to do that. Our focus has been prosecuting the leaders who were involved in the planning and the implementation of the genocide. By the end of 2014, we hope that we will be finishing the prosecution of the top 100 people,” Jallow said.

via ‘Colonialism had effect on Rwanda’ – Hurriyet Daily News.

October 16, 2011
Turkey, France and Sarkozy

Columnists 14 October 2011, Friday 1 0 1 0

SUAT KINIKLIOĞLU

s.kiniklioglu@todayszaman.com

Turkey, France and Sarkozy

Turkey’s relations with France throughout history have had many ups and downs. There are numerous linkages between these two countries that are not always adequately articulated. For instance, one of the greatest French thinkers was Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Did you know that Rousseau’s father was looking after the Ottoman palace’s clocks in the Sublime Porte? Indeed, from 1705 to 1711 Rousseau’s father, Isaac Rousseau, who was a watchmaker, served the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul. Turkey and France established diplomatic relations in 1525, and this bilateral diplomatic relationship constitutes one of the oldest diplomatic relationships in history. If we move on to the more recent past we see that there is a strong economic dimension to Turkish-French relations. France is one of the greatest investors in the Turkish economy. French moviegoers follow Turkish cinema closely, not to mention the more than 5,000 words we have imported from French.

These linkages, be they in the economic, cultural and even political field, suffered an immense blow in 2007 when Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa — that is his full name — was elected president of the French Republic. The rise of Nicolas Sarkozy to the French presidency has dramatically altered the atmosphere between our nations. Within a very short time the French president became the personification of European opposition to Turkey’s bid to join the EU. He argued vehemently that Turkey was not part of European identity from the past to today. Worse, he frequently employs discriminatory and Islamophobic language vis-à-vis Turkey.

Of course one reason behind Turkey bashing à la Sarkozy is that there is almost no cost for French domestic politics in doing so. Despite the 500,000 Turks who live in France, they wield little political influence. On the other hand, the well-established Armenian community projects much more influence than its numbers would suggest. So, when President Sarkozy started preaching to Turkey about the unfortunate events of 1915 in Yerevan last week and urged Turkey to revisit its history, even the French press was blunt about Sarkozy’s timing, which was described as “calculated provocation” aimed at wooing the Armenian vote in France.

Despite the war on Muammar Gaddafi and the hastily arranged visit of Sarkozy and Cameron just one day before Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was scheduled to be in Libya, public opinion polls in France are not looking good. Although it is still too early to write Mr. Sarkozy off, he does seem to be in genuine trouble. According to a recent Economist piece, 68 percent of respondents told a Viavoice poll that they do not want Sarkozy to be re-elected. Undoubtedly, Turks would be extremely happy to see him lose, but there is plenty of time left in the campaign.

Of course should he lose and Merkel be pushed out of the German chancellorship there could be a remarkably different picture at hand in the heart of Europe. Turkey’s EU membership aspirations could get an unexpected boost, but I do not think anyone is betting on this right now.

Under the leadership of Sarkozy, France has come to represent the essence of opposition to Turkish interests. This opposition was not limited to blocking Turkey’s negotiation process, but is visible wherever Turkey’s growing power and influence can be observed. Ranging from North Africa to the Levant, from the Balkans to the Caucasus, Sarkozy’s France seems to be operating in a sort of “contested neighborhood” framework. It is self-evident that France loses from this staunchly anti-Turkish approach. Sarkozy’s roots go back to the Ottoman city of Salonika. He is a descendent of the Mallah family. “Mallah” means messenger or angel in Hebrew. Sarkozy has been no angel to Turkey. His legacy is likely to remain one of greatest disappointments to what could have been a mutually beneficial Turkish-French partnership.(zaman)

October 15, 2011
Anti-Sarkozy demonstration in Istanbul

Demonstrations against President Nicolas Sarkozy, have occurred Friday in front of the consulate of France in Istanbul, following the call a few days ago by this latter, for the recognition by Turkey of the Armenian genocide.

The protesters carried portraits of Sarkozy with Adolph Hitler’s moustache and others denouncing the massacres committed by France in Algeria during the period of colonialism. Some demonstrators wore masks representing Algerian children, referring to the colonial past of France in North Africa.

The head of the Turkish government Recep Tayyip Erdogan and several government ministers, have denounced statements by Sarkozy during his visit to Armenia and the Minister for EU Affairs Egemen Bagis, advised the French president to address the problems of the French people instead of giving lessons to Turkey. France, whose colonial past is known, does not have to give lessons to Turkey, said some Turkish ministers.

During his visit to Armenia, President Sarkozy has asked Turkey to immediately recognize the Armenian genocide, referring to the massacres in 1915 and 1916 in Turkey, of hundreds of thousands of Armenians.

For Turkey, 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians died during this period. These deaths were not victims of an extermination campaign but because of the chaos of the last years of the Ottoman Empire.

Ennaharonline/ M. O.

via Ennahar Online – Anti-Sarkozy demonstration in Istanbul.

October 15, 2011
Turkey’s Erdogan Slams France Over Armenian Genocide Recognition

RFE/RL — Turkish Prime Recep Tayyip Erdogan angrily rejected on Tuesday French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s calls for Turkey to recognize the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. Erdogan accused Sarkozy of playing the anti-Turkish card to secure reelection and warned of serious damage to relations between France and Turkey.

Visiting Armenia late last week, Sarkozy repeatedly reaffirmed France’s official recognition of the genocide and urged Ankara to stop denying a premeditated government effort to wipe out Ottoman Turkey’s Armenian population.

“The genocide of Armenians is a historic reality that was recognized by France. Collective denial is even worse than individual denial,” he said after laying flowers at the genocide memorial in Yerevan.Sarkozy, who will be up for reelection next year, also implicitly threatened to enact, within a “very brief” period, a law that would make Armenian genocide denial a crime in France. Armenia -French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian lay flowers at the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, 06Oct2011. “If Turkey revisited its history, looked it in the face, with its shadows and highlights, this recognition of the genocide would be sufficient,” he said. “But if Turkey will not do this, then without a doubt it would be necessary to go further.”

The Turkish government was quick to denounce those remarks and link them with the French presidential election. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Sarkozy is thus seeking to gain votes from French citizens of Armenian descent.Erdogan condemned the French leader in even stronger terms as he addressed the Turkish parliament on Tuesday. “This is not political leadership. Politics, first of all, requires honesty,” the AFP news agency quoted him as saying

.“There are 600,000 Armenians in your country but also 500,000 Turks. You have relations with Turkey,” Erdogan continued, addressing Sarkozy. “Bearing the title of statesman requires thinking about next generations, not next elections,” he said.

The French parliament officially recognized the slaughter of some 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians as genocide with a special law adopted in 2001. Although the move strained ties between Paris and Ankara, Turkey, remains one of France’s major trading partners outside the European Union.Speaking at a news conference in Yerevan on Friday, Sarkozy also described as “unacceptable” Turkey’s refusal to unconditionally reopen its border with Armenia. He at the same time urged his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian to “continue the dialogue with Turkey.”

Sarkozy spoke just days before the second anniversary of the signing in Zurich of Turkish-Armenian agreements envisaging the normalization of bilateral ties. Erdogan’s government has made their ratification by Turkey’s parliament conditional on a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Yerevan has rejected this linkage and threatened to formally annul the accords.

Sarkisian hailed Sarkozy’s calls for genocide recognition in a weekend speech delivered in Echmiadzin, a historic town 25 kilometers south of Yerevan. Sarkisian said they disproved his critics’ claims his Western-backed policy of rapprochement with Turkey will complicate a broader international recognition of what many historians consider the first genocide of the 20th century.

Copyright (c) 2011. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. Original article:

via ArmeniaDiaspora.com – News from Armenia, Events in Armenia, Travel and Entertainment | Turkey’s Erdogan Slams France Over Armenian Genocide Recognition.

October 12, 2011