Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP claims major victory in local French ballots

March 29, 2015 By administrator

Nicolas Sarkozy

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s right-wing Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and centrist allies on Sunday won control of an overwhelming majority of departments in France, in a major blow to the ruling Socialist Party.

The UMP, in coalition with moderates from the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), claimed as many as 70 out of a possible 98 departments as voters punished President François Hollande’s embattled government.

“The results [of the election] went far beyond local concerns. With their ballots French voters have massively rejected the policies of François Hollande and his government,” Sarkozy told supporters gathered at the UMP’s headquarters in Paris shortly after the first exit polls appeared around 8 p.m. local time.

The UMP’s celebration was crowned by a handful of symbolic victories, including in the central Corrèze department – home to François Hollande and under Socialist control since 2008.

Earlier Prime Minister Manuel Valls admitted on live television that his Socialist Party had suffered clear setbacks, blaming “distractions” and “divisions” among the left.

He also recognised the steady progression of the far-right.

“This is a sign of a lasting upheaval of our political landscape and we will all need to draw lessons from it,” Valls said in reference to the far-right gains across the country. However, the tough-talking PM did not announce any major policy changes.

In an exception to Sunday’s general trend toward the right, the southern department of Lozère passed to Socialist hands, interior ministry results showed.

No FN wins

Despite historically high scores at the local level, the far-right National Front failed to win majority control of any departmental councils.

France’s CSA polling firm said FN candidates had finished first in at least 43 cantons, the geographical units that make up French departments, but did not have enough councillors to take control of any departments.

“I don’t think there will be any National Front departments,” deputy party leader Florian Philippot said on television on Sunday evening.

Earlier, party leader Marine Le Pen avoided the issue of how many departments her anti-immigration party would gain, claiming voters were steadily turning away from France’s mainstream parties.

FRANCE Shoah Memorial: In preview photos of the exhibition on the genocide of Armenians in 1915

March 29, 2015 By administrator

The genocide of Armenians in 1915 stigmatize, exclude, destroy From Friday, April 3, 2015 on Wednesday, September 30, 2015

During World War II, the Committee of Union and Progress, the party-state in exclusive nationalism governing the Ottoman Empire, has implemented the systematic destruction of its Armenian and Syriac subjects, breaking the multiethnic imperial tradition.

The context of war was the necessary condition, suitable to these planned mass violence that were carried out in two stages: massacres of adult men and conscripts from April to October 1915, and deportation of women and children; phasing out of the deportees to concentration camps in the Syrian desert and Mesopotamia. Banned from returning by the Kemalist republic, the survivors and their descendants now form a global diaspora.

To mark the hundredth anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the Memorial of the Shoah has decided to dedicate an exhibition to these events that foreshadow the mass murders that occurred during the twentieth century, while also highlighting the denial of which it continues to be.

Claire Mouradian, Director of Research, CNRS, Raymond Kevorkian, Emeritus Research Director, French Institute of Geopolitics, University Paris 8, and Yves Ternon, PhD in history at the University Paris 4.

Coordination

Caroline Francis, assisted by Marlene Ayala, the Holocaust Memorial

Research and Documentation

Lior Lalieu-Smadja, Ariel Sion, Karen Taieb and the documentation center of the Shoah Memorial

The exhibition is supported by the Memory, Heritage and Archives (DMPA) of the Ministry of Defence, the Defence Historical Service, the Foreign Legion Museum, the National Office for Veterans and War Victims (ONACVG), the Union of committed volunteers, veterans Jews 1939-1945, their children and friends (UEVACJ-EA), and the National Archives.

Shoah Memorial

17 rue Geoffroy Asnier 75004 Paris

Information

Tel. : +33 (0) 1 42 77 44 72 (Standard and IVR) Fax. : +33 (0) 1 53 01 17 44 E-Mail: contact@memorialdelashoah.org Website: www.memorialdelashoah.org

Access

Main entrance: 17 Geoffroy-l’Asnier, Paris 4th Bus 67, 69, 76, 96, Balabus Metro Line 1: Saint-Paul or Hotel de Ville Line 7: Pont-Marie underground car parks Pont Marie, 48 rue de l’Hôtel de Ville, Paris 4th Baudoyer Place Baudoyer, Paris 4th Lobau, Lobau street, Paris 4th

Days and Hours of Operation

Open every day except Saturday, from 10 to 18, and Thursday until 22h.

Closed on Saturdays and some national holidays
January 1
May 1st
July 14
August 15
December 25th

and some Jewish holidays
June 4, 2014
25 and 26 September 2014
4, 9 and 16 October 2014
4 and April 10, 2015
April 10, 2015
May 24, 2015

Sunday, March 29, 2015,
Stéphane © armenews.com

BREAKING NEWS: One Pilot Was Locked Out of Cockpit Before Crash in France

March 25, 2015 By administrator

NYTimes.com

As officials struggled Wednesday to explain why a jet with 150 people on board crashed in relatively clear skies, an investigator said evidence from a cockpit voice recorder indicated one pilot left the cockpit before the plane’s descent and was unable to get back in.
A senior military official involved in the investigation described “very smooth, very cool” conversation between the pilots during the early part of the flight from Barcelona to Düsseldorf. Then the audio indicated that one of the pilots left the cockpit and could not re-enter.
“The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer,” the investigator said. “And then he hits the door stronger and no answer. There is never an answer.”
He said, “You can hear he is trying to smash the door down.”
READ MORE »
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/world/europe/germanwings-airbus-crash.html?emc=edit_na_20150325

France: Beginning today at the Sorbonne of major international symposium CSI #armeniangenocide

March 25, 2015 By administrator

The international conference organized by the International Scientific Council for the study of the Armenian Genocide (CSI) “Genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the Great War. 1915-2015: one hundred years of research “will be held in Paris from 25 to 28 March 2015 under the patronage of the President of the Republic, François Hollande. This is an exceptional event that will mobilize tens of researchers and historians of various nationalities, among the most prestigious. The sessions of the event will be held at the Sorbonne, in the Holocaust Memorial at the National Library of France and EHESS. Syllabus:

Wednesday, March 25th – 16.30 / 8:30 p.m.

Address by Ms. Najat VALLAUD-BELKACEM, Minister of Education,

Address by the President of the School of Advanced Studies
Social Sciences (EHESS) SIR PETER CYRILLE HAUTCOEUR
Address by the President of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France SIR JOHN PAUL HUCHON
Inaugural Conference of MR YVES TERNON
historian, member of the Scientific Council of the Holocaust Memorial, president of CSI

Thursday, March 26 – 9:30 / 7:00 p.m.
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL
17 RUE GEOFFROY The Asnier
75004 PARIS

10.00-12.30: SPACE-TIME, THE STEPS OF THE PROCESS GENOCIDAL
Chair: Catherine Nicault, historian, University of Reims
Discussant: Stephan Astourian, historian, University of Berkeley Interventions:
The legacy of Abdülhamid II. Janet Klein, Historian, University of Akron.
The Ottoman opposition, the Committee of Union and Progress and the 1908 revolution.

Erdal Kaynar, historian, Polonsky Academy of the Van Leer Institute, EHESS.
The “European Concert” and reforms in the eastern provinces, 1878-1914.
Claire Mouradian, historian, CNRS.
The Special Organization. Cetinoglu known historian, Free University of Ankara.
The entrance of the Ottoman Empire in the war, from 1914 to 1915.
Mustafa Aksakal, historian, Georgetown University.
12.30-13.30: Lunch
13h30-15h00: PERPETRATORS VICTIMS, LIFEGUARD
Chair: Richard Hovannisian, historian, UCLA
Discussant: Vincent Duclert, historian, EHESS
Interventions:

The first phase of the Destruction: Deportations and Massacres (April-August 1915).
Raymond Kevorkian, historian, University of Paris VIII.
The second phase of the genocide. KM-historian, Rutgers University.
Forced conversions. Umit Kurt, historian, Sabancı University.
15.00-15.15: Pause

15h15-16h20: WITNESSES
Chair: Wolfgang Gust, journalist
Discussant: Ara Sarafian, historian, Gomidas Institute Interventions:
European and American witnesses. Hans-Lukas Kieser, historian, University of Zurich.
Armenian witnesses. Amatuni Virabyan, historian, State Archives of Armenia.
16h20-16h30: Pause
16h30-19h00: OTHER MINORITIES OF THE EMPIRE
Chair: Gérard Chaliand, geostrategist
Discussant: Laurent-Olivier Mallet, historian, University of Montpellier
Interventions:
The Jews of the Ottoman Empire to f in the nineteenth century.
Georges Bensoussan, historian, the Holocaust Memorial.
The complexity of the genocide of the Assyrian-Chaldeans. David Gaunt, historian,
Centre for the Study of the Baltic States and Eastern Europe, University of Soedertoern.
The Ottoman Greeks. Sia Anagnostopoulou, historian, University of Athens.
Kurdish-Yezidi-Armenians, many facets of a community in exile (s).
Estelle Amy of Bretèque, anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, CNRS.

Friday, March 27
EHESS, 105 Boulevard Raspail, 75006 Paris

10h-12h30 – Fifth Panel: Logic of war, economic, ideological

Chair: Joël Kotek, a political scientist, historian, University of Brussels. Discussant: Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau, historian, EHESS.

Ideological, demographic and economic logic of genocide by Hamit Bozarslan, political scientist, historian, EHESS.
The logic of pre-genocidal massacres by Vincent Duclert, historian, EHESS.
The world in turmoil: waves of refugees and massacres in the occupied northern Persia (1914-1918) by PeterHolquist, historian, University of Pennsylvania.
The mechanisms of decision making of the Young Turk leadership (1913-1915) by Erik-Jan Zürcher, historian, University of Leiden.
The confiscation of Armenian property during the genocide by Mehmet Polatel, historian, Koç University.

12h30-13h30: lunch
13h30-16h – Sixth Panel: International Relations and Criminal Law

Chair: Peter Mertens, lawyer, Sociology of Literature Centre, Free University of Brussels. Discussant: Vincent Nioré, lawyer and president of the Institute for Criminal Law

The trials of Constantinople (1919-1920) by Mikaël Nichanian, historian, National Library of France.
The breakdown of consensus. The Perinçek case, the Armenian genocide and international criminal law by Sevane Garibian, lawyer, Universities of Geneva and Neuchâtel.
The status of Armenian stateless refugees and international action of the League of Nations and the International Labour Office by Dzovinar Kevonian, historian, Institute for Political Social Sciences, University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense
Raphael Lemkin, the extermination of the Armenians and the invention of the word genocide by Annette Becker, historian, University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense
Lemkin and the Armenian genocide, a legal play by Olivier Beauvallet, international judge.

16h-16h15: Pause

16h15-18h20 – Seventh Panel: historiography, a new research field

Chair: Michel Marian, philosopher, Institute of Political Studies in Paris. Discussant: Edhem Eldem, historian, Boğaziçi University.
The historiography of the Armenian genocide, a new field of research by Gaïdz Minassian, journalist and political scientist, Institute of Political Studies in Paris.
Reflections on Ottoman historiography (years 1960-1990) about the role of non-Muslims and Ottoman Armenians in commerce and the urban economy by Stephan Astourian, historian, University of Berkeley.
Ottoman governors opposed to deportations and massacres of Armenians by Ayhan Aktar, historian, Bilgi University.
The speech of Turkey on the genocide of Armenians by Jennifer Dixon, political scientist, Villanova University.

18h20-18h30: Pause

18h30-20h30 – Eighth Panel: Perspectives on clearing trails or the Armenian ghost

Chair: Patrick Donabedian, art historian, University of Aix-Marseille. Discussant: Antoine Spire, journalist, vice president of Lycra.

The permanence of traces of the 1915 genocide in the Armenian memory; role of politics in their registration or erasure by Janine Altounian, essayist, translator, Freud specialist.
Confiscation and destruction of property by Armenian Dickran Kouymjian, historian, California State University. After photograph by Pascaline Marre, photographer and Anouche Kunth, historian, CNRS.
Aram Andonian, the Nubar library and the creation of a heritage in exile after the destruction of Ottoman Armenians by Boris Adjemian, historian, Library Nubar AGBU.

Saturday, March 28

National Library of France, Quai François Mauriac, 75013 Paris

10h-12h30 – Ninth Panel: Memory, transmission, history, negation

Chair: Henry Rousso, historian, CNRS. Discussant: Claude Mutafian historian.

The sacrifice, witness and forgiveness: The Candidate Zareh Vorpouni by Marc Nichanian, professor of philosophy, Sabancı University.
Gender, genocide survival. Islamized Armenians new working memory Ayşe Gül Altinay, anthropologist, Sabancı University.
The teaching of genocide: European examples Alban Perrin, historian, the Holocaust Memorial, Institute of Political Studies in Bordeaux.
The Founding Myths of Turkish denial by Büşra Ersanli, political scientist, University of Marmara.
The memory of the genocide in Turkey Armenians by Hira Kaynar, historian, EHESS.

12h30-13h30: lunch

13h30-15h: Tenth Panel: Features & comparatismes, I

Chairman: Jean-Pierre Chrétien, historian, CNRS. Discussant: Meir Waintrater journalist.

Genocidal thinking: a comparative perspective by Dominik Schaller, historian, University of Heidelberg.
The genocide of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks by the Ottomans by Roger Smith, historian, College of William and Mary.
The Armenian Genocide in the light of a general theory of genocide by Bernard Bruneteau, Professor of Political Science, University of Rennes I.

15.00-15.15: Pause

15h15-17h – Eleventh Panel: Features & comparatismes, II

Chair: Claire Mouradian, historian, CNRS. Discussant: Yves Ternon, historian, member of the Scientific Council of the Shoah Memorial.
Singularity of the Holocaust by Christian Ingrao, historian, CNRS.
Singularity of the famine in Ukraine by Nicolas Werth, historian, CNRS.
Singularity of the genocide of Tutsis by Helene Dumas, historian, EHESS.

17h00-17h15: pause

5:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.: Closing Conference

Chair: Gaïdz Minassian, journalist and political scientist, Institute of Political Studies in Paris.

Symposium balance by Raymond Kevorkian, historian, University of Paris VIII.
1915 and the social sciences by Taner Akcam, historian, University of Clarke.
Turkism and pan-Turkism by Erik-Jan Zürcher, historian, University of Leiden.
The contemporary revisionism and its defenders Richard Hovannisian, historian, UCLA.
The outlook from the perspective of international justice by Nicholas Koumjian, prosecutor at the international courts.
The publication of research on the Armenian genocide in Turkey by Ragıp Zarakolu éditeur.v

Practical information

Registrations are closed.

Founding members of the CSI

Annette Becker, Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Défense), member of the Institut Universitaire de France.

Hamit Bozarslan, historian, political scientist, director of studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS).

Vincent Duclert, historian, lecturer and researcher at the Center for Sociological and Political Studies Raymond Aron (EHESS).

Raymond Kevorkian, historian, emeritus director of research at the French Institute of Geopolitics, University of Paris VIII.

Gaïdz Minassian, journalist, doctor of political science lecturer at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris.

Claire Mouradian, historian, research director at the CNRS
.

Mikaël Nichanian, historian, curator at the National Library of France, associate researcher at the College de France.

Yves Ternon, historian, member of the Scientific Council of the Shoah Memorial, President of CSI.

WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE REGIONAL ILE DE FRANCE AND THE MISSION OF THE 2015 CCAF

Wednesday, March 25, 2015,
Ara © armenews.com

France regional elections: exit polls put Sarkozy’s UMP in lead

March 22, 2015 By administrator

Exit polls following the first round of regional elections in France suggest President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP Party will come out in the lead.

The conservative party and its partners look set to receive 36 percent of the vote, with President François Hollande’s Socialist Party in second place on 28.5 percent.

Speaking about the projections, Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls said more people than expected had voted.

Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, anti-euro, extreme right Front National Party lags behind in the exit polls, on 24.5 percent.

If confirmed, the results will prove to be a setback for Le Pen, who was hoping to come out on top in the first round.

She is setting her sights on winning the 2017 presidential elections in France.

Initial figures suggest the rate of abstention was 48.5 percent.

History: March 18, 1915, the last chance for Manoug Atamian

March 18, 2015 By administrator

We know that April 25, 1915, the Allies and particularly the British tried to conquer the peninsula of Gallipoli in the Dardanelles and they suffered a failure, after months of fruitless fighting. It’s the landing that the Turkish government is preparing to commemorate the centenary, shifting from a day to coincide with the April 24, one wonders why …

But this attempt was only following the failure of the Franco-British naval attack on March 18, whose objective was the capture of Constantinople, and whose success would, in my view, prevented the implementation of the Armenian genocide. Unfortunately, following the loss due to undetected mines, some old ships that had been purposely placed in the squadron head, panic won the English Admiral John de Robeck appointed to this position only two days earlier and he decided to withdraw its ships.

It was Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, that is to say, Minister of Marine, who was the main instigator of this strategy, the failure was wrongly attributed to him, despite a commission investigation which exonerated completely. What were the motives of such a project?

In early 1915, Russia was already weakened by the blows of the German armed and lacked ammunition and even simple rifles to equip its new troops. The Caucasian front was threatened by the Turks (this was just before the defeat of Enver to Sarikamich), as the Grand Duke Nicolas, Commander in Chief of the Russian armies, asked the British to act against the Ottoman Empire to relieve their burden (much like Stalin demanded the same thing to the same English 1941-1943).

All the more so since the entry into Turkey war in November 1914, Russia was completely isolated and above all, she could not export wheat with financial consequences that could “erase crescent Russia as main factor, “wrote Churchill. This required him at any cost reestablish the connection with his allies and this could be done by deviating Turkey conflict with a bold and decisive blow.

The success of this project would have decided the Balkan states hesitant (Greece, Bulgaria, Romania) to join the Allies in the war and the rapid defeat of the Ottoman Empire, already defeated in 1912, would inevitably followed.

The capture of Constantinople, from the beginning of the conflict, would have dealt a severe blow to the morale of German states, already shaken in their convictions by the battle of the Marne and the resistance of Serbia. (Ludendorff, the main German strategist, admitted afterwards that it could shorten the two-year war)

The side of the main front in France, the situation was blocked. Any attempt to break was doomed to failure, despite the obstinacy of Allied generals that cost unnecessarily the lives of hundreds of thousands of French and British soldiers, and, to the 1917 riots due to this stupid strategy. It was therefore necessary to attack the “soft underbelly” of the Central Powers, ie Turkey and especially the peninsula of Gallipoli which protected the capital of the Mediterranean side but was then defended by two divisions.

And from the outset, we envisioned a combined land and naval attack, but the War Minister of the United Kingdom, the prestigious Lord Kitchener, declared that he had no troops available, and then gave a division, the 29th, ready to go in February, ships to transport dock. Then he changed his mind and canceled everything. Churchill then found an alternative in getting the agreement of Venizelos, the Greek Prime Minister to land several divisions of Gallipoli, and therefore go to war against the Ottoman Empire. Deportation by the Young Turks of hundreds of thousands of Greeks from Asia Minor in 1914 was not forgotten. But then that the Tsar wished to prevent at all costs the entry of Greeks in Constantinople, vetoed this intervention. Indeed, the Allies had promised that at the end of the conflict, he would get the annexation of the “Second Rome”, an old Russian dream … And then Churchill, in his memoirs of the Great War written in twenty years (and which have just been published in French) was a cry from the heart: “Was there then no finger to write on the wall, no grandfather spectrum to appear before this unfortunate prince, the image of the fall of his house, for the destruction of his people – the bloody basement of Yekaterinburg? “. Yekaterinburg is the city in which the imperial family was murdered in 1919 by the Bolsheviks, but by his short-sighted decisions including the one discussed here, Czar has sawed the branches on which he sat sadly by practicing with him millions of victims and indirectly the Armenian people.

And following the failure of 18 March (“do not persevere – there was the crime,” wrote Churchill and the general strategy expert Sir Basil Liddell Hart expressed the same opinion) the Young Turk government, which was preparing to flee the capital, shouted victory the most powerful world fleet had turned back! The consequences were fatal for Armenians: the extermination plan prepared in previous months, was implemented. In his latest book written with Yves Ternon, historian Raymond Kevorkian time this decision between 22 and 25 March, less than a week after the retreat of allied ships! And in late March, the Turks “tested it” the feasibility of the deportation plan, starting with the town of Zeitun, which order their valiant people submitted themselves at the behest of Catholicos of Cilicia, which hoped to preserve the life of Armenians in the province an illusion … Now if Constantinople was conquered in March as possible, the flight of the Young Turk government would inevitably disrupted the implementation of the criminal plan. Massacres would probably products, even if only to pay the Armenians the fall of their capital so hard won in 1453, but the organization of the genocide would probably have been stopped. Such an act can not commit a few days, and the Turks in hands free, precisely because of the retreat of March 18, yet began months to complete their crime, which continued until 1916.

Conversely, the Allied invasion of April 25 fell too late. The roundup of the Armenian elite dated from the day before, with all that ensued. And anyway, the failure of this “Plan B” was predictable, the Turks and their German military officers, accused of the attack had strengthened their defense and tripled the number of divisions in the peninsula and they kept them very steep hills.

As for the Allies, the consequences of this ill-organized campaign from the start, were the exact opposite of the aim: we wanted to extend a helping hand to Russia, it failed completely, and it ended with the Revolution and the withdrawal of Russian battlefield; and secondly, after this failure, Bulgaria entered the war in September 1915 the German-Turkish side, which caused the collapse of Serbia and especially the territorial junction between Germany and Turkey, which could and be rescued with arms and ammunition and to continue the war until 1918. Not only fails to link the Allies, but it is ultimately the Central Powers which found themselves in one piece, from Brussels to Mecca .

For that genocide “successful” as is the case in accident, you need a combination of causes. For the Armenian people, the last of these cases was the failure of the March 18, 1915, the evil sign of Destiny.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015,
Stéphane © armenews.com

The book “1915 Armenian Genocide” Hasan Cemal in French released in bookstores on March 19

March 18, 2015 By administrator

The best-selling book “Armenian Genocide in 1915,” the Turkish journalist Hasan Cemal, grand son of Cemal (Cemal) Pasha one of three Young Turk leaders who committed the genocide of the Armenians has been translated into French notify us Armenian newspaper “Agos” in Istanbul. It will be released tomorrow, 19 March bookstore editions Ordinaries Prairies with the title “1915 Armenian genocide” (288 pages, 23 €). Hasan Cemal’s book appeared in Turkish in 2012 to “Everest” editions. Last year it was translated into Armenian and presented in Yerevan by the author. With a controversy during the presentation in Armenia. The Armenian translation had been amputated some passages relating to criticism of the author on the Armenian terrorism and the war of liberation of Karabakh.

Below is the summary of French book by the editor:
“The deportation and massacre of Armenians in 1915, the question of their recognition and debate about the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, this time of the First World War when the imperial lands have undergone joint attacks by the allies and tsarist Russia have continued to agitate Turkey since its foundation. In 2005, contradictory versions of history face when a group of Turkish intellectuals stands for the recognition of the genocide. Among them, Hasan Cemal, grand-son of the last Minister of Marine and governor of Syria in 1916-1918, Jemal Pasha (1872-1922), considered one of the instigators of the genocide. He chose to recount here the individual and family experience. This book, which caused a stir in Turkey, also traces the journey of a man of the left, which Yerevan in the United States via France, in the Armenian diaspora, wants to reach out and pay tribute to his friend Hrant Dink, the journalist behind the process, who was assassinated in 2007. A key test in a process he inaugurated a decade ago and who intends to consider the Armenian part of the people of Turkey. “

Krikor Amirzayan

France: Interview with Valerie Boyer: We will not yield to Turks’ threats

March 4, 2015 By administrator

By Anna Ghazaryan

National Assembly of France Valerie Boyer.

Armenian News-NEWS.am presents an exclusive interview with member of the National Assembly of France Valerie Boyer.

Madame Boyer, will you visit Armenia on April 24 to attend the events on the occasion of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide?

I have visited Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh several times on the occasion of April 24 events. This year, despite the requests to attend events in Yerevan, I decided to stay in Marseille. Senator of Marseille Jean Claude Gaudin devoted 2015 to Armenia. In this context the city will host numerous cultural events referring to Armenia and Armenians. On April 24 the municipality of Marseille and the municipalities of all districts will turn into the colors of Armenia. So, I chose to stay with the French of Armenian descent to show them my support and commitment.

Besides, together with Blue Cross of the Armenia’s of France (ARS France), I organized tree planting. 100 trees will be planted near the April 24 monument, not to mention conferences and exhibitions . We will honor the Armenian culture and our duty.

France has recognized the Armenian Genocide. What should be the next step?

I think that acknowledgment is the first step, but today I expect France to criminalize denial of the Armenian Genocide after adoption of my bill by the National Assembly and the Senate in 2012 which was a step forward in terms of a law on criminalization. The genocide of 1915 is the second genocide that was recognized by France after Holocaust. The text was adopted in 2001 and was confirmed without raising the question of constitutionality, but did not envisage punishment for denial.

The 2001 law must be supplemented by acknowledgment of the punishment mechanisms. I worked on a new bill that is no longer referring to free expression. This will be an important move forward and will ban tarnishing the memories of thousands of men, women and children who died just because their only crime was being Armenian Christians.

Last year you introduced a bill banning denial of the genocides and crimes against humanity that were committed in the twentieth century. The law has not been adopted yet. Do you think the French parliament will pass the bill this year – on the centennial of the Armenian Genocide?

Back in 2011 I introduced a bill, based on the right of the community to fight against racism and denial of genocides that were recognized by the French law, including the Armenian Genocide. The bill was passed by all groups of the National Assembly and the Senate on January 23, 2012. Unfortunately, the Constitutional Council overturned it on the grounds that the denial is part of freedom of expression, thus putting an end to this attempt to criminalize denial.

Nevertheless, the possibility of criminalizing denial of all genocides and crimes against humanity echoes the topical problem in the context of persecutions similar to genocides, those targeted at Christians of the Middle East, Yezidis, in particular in Iraq. They were described by Ban Ki-moon as a crime against humanity.

There is obvious need to pass the law in order to offer new characteristics to denial. Therefore, I am working hard to work out an alternative and new version that was a fruit of my work with the leading lawyers, experts on criminal law – Bernard Jouanneau and Sevag Torossian. This is why I suggest that the denial was no longer considered a simple abuse of the freedom of expression, but a crime against humanity.

This offers two advantages: to get out of the legal impasse created by the Constitutional Council in connection with the freedom of expression, and to protect the memory of the victims of all genocides recognized by our legislation.

So, I offer my fellow MPs to sign the legislative mechanism, an apolitical bill that is pursuing the public interest, which is free from party considerations. This text aims to be universal, because it protects all the genocides recognized by French law, and expresses its respect for human rights. This project relates to human dignity. Since October 2014, the law has been available on the website of the National Assembly, and I hope that it will be reviewed in the near future, as this is not only close to my heart, but is especially important for our commitment and our rights.

Hearing into Perincek vs. Switzerland case has been recently held in the European Court of Human Rights. Perincek accused Switzerland of violating his right for freedom of expression. Where do you think is the limit when the priority is not to allow repetition of awful crimes of the past at the same time not violating freedom of speech?

This is not about permitting or banning everything. Freedom of expression, as well as its limitations, must be protected. The law also establishes a framework. Freedom cannot exist without the rule of law, and the government should take responsibility, if necessary, allowing the popular representation to establish the scope and limits of freedom of expression. This freedom is relative, not absolute, and should respect the beliefs and memory of the victims.

The problem is that now the choice of a suitable expression is based on the impact of the media. Alas, in this demagogic approach, the judge is not completely innocent. Thus, the judges in Strasbourg concluded that the denial of the Armenian Genocide had no consequences, and this means that you can allow hurting the victims and their descendants. Again, neither the government, nor even Francois Hollande, who committed himself to introducing punishment for challenging this genocide, did nothing. Not a word!

The question is: who makes the decision regarding the public expression of opinion or what is acceptable to say and what is not? Does a politician have a direct interest? The current government is a consumer of communications not having any problems with showing its inconsistency, until tweets reach an alarm threshold or the reaction of the population will not limit them.

This is an expectant management, which sorely lacks personality and beliefs, but reflects the state of confusion, where modern France has plunged.

What do you think about Turkish authorities’ initiative to mark the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli events on April 24?

I think I should not express my opinion on Turkish government’s decision to mark or not to mark anything. I do not approve interference. Nevertheless, one must be blind not to see that the state lie hundred years after the events impels the government to continue denial of the crimes up to coming up with a memorial event to disguise the centennial ceremonies. As far as I know, the date of the battle is April 25.

This is a pathetic initiative. However, instead of commenting on what is happening in Turkey, let’s find a voice in France to fulfill our duty to ensure continuation of the 2001 law in order to criminalize denial. Help me so that the bill presented in April 2014 could be considered and adopted by the National Assembly and the Senate in 2015.

We will not yield to threats by the Turks or to any delays because of political and legal reasons in France.

Armenians in France “3rd and 4th generation”

February 28, 2015 By administrator

La Croix, France 16 Feb 2015

Armenians in France

map of the Armenian community in France.

The Armenian community in France has about 600,000 people, 400,000 were born in France (3rd and 4th generation now). These figures do not take into account the recent immigration of Armenians from Armenia.

The community is mostly centered around three areas géographiquesâ @ I: the Paris region (over 200,000 people), the Marseille region (over 150,000) and Lyon (about 150,000).

The city of Alfortville (Val-de-Marne), nicknamed the Â “Â Little Armenia” is one of the most representative, with 7000 has 9,000 members from more than 45 000 inhabitants.

Other cities also have a high concentration as Issy-les-Moulineaux (Hauts-de-Seine), Lyon, Nice, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Grenoble, Montpellier, etc.

The Armenian community has many associations, at least six Armenian schools (one school in Marseille), and a hundred Â “schools Saturday or Sunday Â” to the teaching of the Armenian language.

http://www.la-croix.com/Actualite/France/Les-Armeniens-en-France-2015-02-16-1281478

France deploys aircraft carrier to Persian Gulf in fight against ‘IS’

February 23, 2015 By administrator

French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle

France has bolstered its contribution to the fight against “Islamic State.” Its aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will now operate from the Persian Gulf, allowing more combat jets to fight alongside the US-coalition.

French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was deployed to the Persian Gulf on Monday as part of French efforts against the terror group “Islamic State.”

“The integration of the Charles de Gaulle in the operation…begins this morning,” a member of Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s staff told reporters.

France has provided air support to the US-led coalition’s operations against “IS” in Iraq since mid-September. It has six Mirage fighter jets currently operating from Jordan, as well as aircraft based in the United Arab Emirates.

With the addition of the aircraft carrier, an additional 21 French combat jets will take part in the international airstrikes aimed at providing relief to Kurdish peshmerga fighters as they attempt to drive IS militants out of northern Iraq.

The Charles de Gaulle was reportedly accompanied by a British anti-submarine frigate, a refueling vessel and an additional attack submarine.

France was among the first nations to join the US-coalition. In retaliation, an Algerian group affiliated with IS behead French citizen Herve Groudel in late September. Paris, like other coalition members, additionally faces the overwhelming security threat of deterring the radicalization of French citizens by Islamist extremists.

kms/rc (AFP, Reuters, dpa)