“While Chirac was opening the French square in the heart of Armenia and reminiscing about the “heroic history of the ancient people”, Erdogan was being defended in Washington-the capital of the New World (and not the heart of the city),” the author of this article printed in the French “Liberation” paper is female Turkish writer Min G. Kirikanat. She touched upon the recent visit of Chirac, while the Turkish presses referred to Chirac’s call on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide as a “Chirac standard”. The Turkish writer believes that the Turks don’t clearly understand that that call is just one of the standards of Copenhagen. “The European Union has been discussing the recognition of the Armenian Genocide as a condition for Turkey to join the union for a year now,” writes “Figaro” trying to show that the call made by the French president wasn’t really startling for Turkey. It’s all about the problem with Chirac. “That proposal (recognition of the Armenian Genocide-K.T. )was a surprise because everyone knows that France supports Turkey to join the EU,” as stated in “Figaro”. As for member of the broadening branch of the European Union committee Oli Ren, who recently paid a visit to Turkey, contradicted Jacques Chirac and the recent report prepared by the foreign relations committee of the European parliament. According to Ren, recognition of the Armenian Genocide can’t be a prerequisite for Turkey to join the EU. “France, STOP, the boycott is beginning”, “The Genocide is an illusion”. These were the words on posters seen during a demonstration in Istanbul on October 8 as a sign of protest against the bill proposed by the French socialist party at the parliament. According to the bill, people who deny the genocide are sentenced to 5 years in prison and a large fee.” This bill didn’t pass the first time and it was put up for voting once again on October 12. According to “Figaro”, Turkish Prime Minister Tayib Erdogan took an interesting survey from the French regarding the bill. “What would you do if a Turkish Prime Minister came to France and said that there has never been an Armenian Genocide? Will you sentence him?” asked Erdogan. On October 7, he approved the the delegation of large French companies, including “Peugeot”, “Renault”, “Danone”, “Lafarge” and “Carrefour”. Erdogan’s “message” to Chirac is clear-all these companies play an important role in Turkish economy. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Giul reminded his French homologue about the amount of money circulation between the two countries (it was nearly 10 billion dollars in 2005): So, what the Turks are really trying to say is that France will lose Turkey as an economic partner if that bill passes. Does Armenia really need all this? French presses claim that the political parties in favor of the bill penalizing anyone that denies the Armenian Genocide are after one thing-to get on the good side of the 500,000 French Armenians living in France during the 2007 parliamentary elections. Besides that bill, the poor relations between France and Turkey don’t really benefit Armenia. Instead of presenting the Armenian Genocide as an issue to the French parliament, the Armenian community of France could have demanded other things from the French political parties (for example, strengthening of economic ties with Armenia, implementation of different projects in Armenia, etc.). In that case, the socialist party would actually start listening to what Diasporan Armenians had to say. The scandalous sentence by Jacques Chirac also didn’t really benefit Armenia. Does Armenia really need to have Turkey not join the EU? This issue is a matter of discussion. However, the French are certain that Chirac said “what all Armenians were waiting for” in Yerevan.
