France: PRESIDENTIAL 2017 Armenia News questionnaire: the replies of Mr François Fillon

News from Armenia Magazine: Since 2012, the genocide of Armenians is commemorated every April 24 by the Republic, with the participation of the President of the Republic and / or a minister. If you are elected, do you intend to continue this tradition? Can you promise that April 24 will be officially considered a national day of commemoration of the Armenian genocide and will be included as such in the Republican calendar?

François Fillon: Like my predecessors, if I am elected President of the Republic I will commemorate April 24th. It is important not to forget the thousands of victims. This genocide removed the Armenians from the eastern provinces of Asia Minor of the Ottoman Empire. 1.5 million people, or ¾ of the Armenian population were affected.

In France, eleven annual national days have been instituted by legislative or regulatory texts, for example, the commemoration of the victory of 8 May 1945, the commemoration of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 or the national day of homage to Harkis of 25 September and the death toll of the Algerian war and the fighting in Morocco and Tunisia on 5 December. The French of Armenian descent also insists on writing April 24 in our Republican calendar. It is legitimate.

What is your view of the Armenian community of France, constituted by the survivors of the genocide of 1915? In the face of the denial of the Turkish state, do you understand its fight for the international recognition of genocide and do you think it is fair for France to support it?

François Fillon: The French of Armenian origin and the Armenian community of France constitute an example of integration, of success, of patriotism. Everyone loves France but all also have a bit of their heart in Armenia. With the law of January 29, 2001, France publicly acknowledged the Armenian genocide of 1915. By recognizing the existence of the first genocide of the twentieth century, the French Republic symbolically gave the Armenian drama a place in the collective memory of mankind.

But the recognition of the genocide of 1915 could not be a completion, it was necessary to go further to avoid any competition of memories and any unequal treatment between the victims of the genocides recognized by French law and their descendants.

Why is the issue of the recognition of the 1915 genocide and denialism important?

François Fillon: The five hundred thousand Frenchmen of Armenian descent felt abandoned, left helpless by the Republic they had defended, sometimes at the cost of their blood. The descendants of Holocaust victims against Holocaust deniers were protected by law. The descendants of the survivors of the Armenian genocide had to face, alone and disarmed, an unprecedented phenomenon: the negationism of State. Turkey is very wrong not to look at its past. Every nation has its share of shadow and gains to recognize it.

The French Republic has a duty to protect all its citizens, including our citizens who have found asylum, homeland and freedom in France. It is up to the justice of the Republic to act to ensure respect for its citizens. An important legislative work had to be carried out in order to draw all the legal consequences of this recognition, that is to say, the penalization of denial.

Valerie Boyer has campaigned to penalize Holocaust denial in the name of human dignity and justice. I thank her for her commitment on this issue, not forgetting all the parliamentarians, associations and lawyers who have been mobilized for many years.

Today, repressing the denial of genocide is echoing a burning current, in the context of persecutions against the Christians of the East in Iraq and Syria in particular, described by Ban Ki-Moon as crimes against humanity.

I also visited Iraq, in 2009, 2014 and 2016, in particular in Erbil, and in June 2015, I wished to organize an evening of support for the Christians of the East at Cirque d’Hiver Which brought together more than 2,000 people.

Today, it emerges from the various testimonies that a hundred years later, History begins again. That is why it is normal that this fight against Holocaust denial has finally come to fruition thanks to the mobilization of deputies and senators.

Are you for Turkey’s accession to the European Union?

François Fillon: On this issue, I have always been consistent. I have never changed my opinion: Turkey’s accession to the European Union is neither possible nor desirable. I regret that France and Europe do not have the courage to say it sincerely to the Turkish authorities.

Do you think that France should continue to have a special relationship with Armenia?

François Fillon: Today our country has 500,000 French Armenians. The links between France and Armenia have always been strong. In 1909, the French navy helped the Armenians of Cilicia. Our ships were also there in 1915.This tragic story has created unfailing links.

France was the first to welcome surviving, driven, massacred Armenians. They were stateless, they became French. They also paid the price of blood by fighting alongside us during the two world wars.

Today, I also want to pay tribute to the educational cooperation between our two countries, which I have always been keen to preserve. Like the French university in Yerevan. It should also be noted that Armenia is an associate member of the International Organization of la Francophonie.

Let us also not forget our economic relations since France is the first European investor in Armenia.

These relationships are strong and continue to grow. The Franco-Armenian friendship has long and beautiful days before it …

Are you in favor of the recognition by France of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh?

François Fillon: In April 2016, for six days, the Southern Caucasus had once again flamed.

Confirmed by international indifference, Azerbaijan had tried to retake by force Nagorno-Karabakh. This murderous offensive ended with a precarious ceasefire.

Today our French citizens of Armenian origin are worried and I am also worried because the Nagorno-Karabakh region is a powder magazine. Let us not forget that the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is due to Stalin, who arbitrarily detached him from Armenia to Azerbaijan in 1921. Now there is no choice but to find a Peaceful and lasting solution through the United Nations.

Would you be for the creation in Paris of an Armenian center of civilization and memory and would you be ready to help in its realization?

François Fillon: We need a place of sharing and meditation. But beyond the existence of an Armenian center of civilization and memory, I wonder about the future of the Armenian Museum of France (MAF) at the Musée Guimet.

Indeed, in recent years, the Musée Guimet, on which the Hôtel d’Ennery depends, has begun renovation work. The Armenian Museum was then asked to move some of its collections, with the assurance given by the Minister of Culture to be able to return to the site at the end of the site. It must be noted that this undertaking was not kept.

While the MAF funds represent the largest Armenian art collection in Europe: nearly 1,200 works recounting 3,000 years of history, the Government remains vague. Why not save the MAF? I attach great importance to the preservation of our national heritage, of which the collection of the MAF is now a part.

What message would you like to address to the 500,000 French of Armenian origin?

François Fillon: I want to salute the memory and the courage of the Armenians who became French, known or anonymous. They fought for truth, dignity, social success. They are the example of a successful assimilation. They participated in the construction of our national narrative. As Charles Aznavour says so well, they knew how to remain “100% French and 100% Armenian”. I want to pay tribute to them.