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JACQUES CHIRAC: "I WOULD LIKE FRENCH SQUARE TO BE ALSO PEACE SQUARE" FRENCH PRESIDENT JACUES CHIRAC'S SPEECH DURING OPENING OF FRENCH SQUARE IN YEREVAN
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 30 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 30, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. The Armenian
President Robert Kocharian and the French President Jacques Chirac
made speeches during the official ceremony of opening French Square
in Yerevan on September 30. Below is President Jacques Chirac's speech
with some abridgement:
"It is with great excitement that I am familiarizing myself with the
Armenian land.
Excitement caused by the first visit of the French state's leader to
the places bearing evidence of the birth of the world, these places
where the guardian-giant Mount Ararat is said to become a shelter
for Noah's Ark at the end of the Deluge.
Excitement about the heroic and full of suffering history of the
Armenian people from time immemorial. From the very first it was a
Christian people true to its identity and faith. A people on whose
fate a genocide will be imprinted for ever, the genocide to which it
fell vicim under conditions of the shocks caused by World War I and
the collapse of empires.
Excitement when I think about those who experienced this tragedy and
were forced to follow the sad path of exile. When I think about all
those who turned with confidence to France as a sister in belief that
it will provide shelter and solace.
Eventually, an excitement when It remember all those who resisted
the Nazi barbarism like Misak Mnushian and his friends. France will
never forget their struggle for our freedom.
... Your national heritage treasures - Urartu antiquities,
masterpieces of Christian Armenia, manuscripts of the Matenadaran,
works of Arshil Gorky and Parajanov will be on display at the most
famous cultural centers of France. They will remind the French about
the power of the Armenian culture, its support for our civilization
and its dissemination throughout the world.
Mister President,
Dear Friends,
Responding to your invitation to pay a state visit, I first of all
want to highlight the unique links between our two peoples. I want
to stress my confidence in Armenia's future.
Confidence in the ability of the young independent republic of an
ancient nation to build a legal state that guarantees democracy and
social freedoms and shares with us its commitment to human rights.
Confidence in the Armenian youth which has the aspiration for peace
and freedom and strives to use to the full its enthusiasm, its thirst
for justice and its enterprise.
Confidence in the ability of your state to succeed with its economic
development and confidence in its will to become a most favorable
place for investment thanks to those exceptional capabilities that
consist in the talent and cultural power of its youth.
Confidence in its ability to struggle for peace. It is a big challenge,
the most difficult one, which your country should overcome. A challenge
that Armenia can and must overcome because only a fair and lasting
peace will allow your people to realize its hopes.
I believe in peace. It was in the past that conflicts were settled by
force. The time when it was possible to instigate feuds in disregard
of peace and security is over.
It is only the dialog based on dignity and mutual respect that allows
one to look at the future in a long-term perspective.
Today those who achieve peace are the great ones - those capable
of overcoming bellicose legacies in order to open the path of
reconciliation. This is the evidence I want to present to you today
in this French Square which I would like to be a peace square as well.
Dear friends,
For the past ten years France has not spared efforts to find a solution
to the regretful Nagorno Karbakh conflict within the framework of
Minsk Group.
Today I want to believe that the time of peace has come. I want to
believe because I know the price of war. One last step has to be taken
to reach peace. A difficult step in evidence of faith in the future of
humanity. It leads against the false security of the current situation
and allows to choose the path of confident movement. This final step
can and must be taken in Yerevan and Baku because it allows to open
the horizon of light, peace and prosperity.
These are my wishes to all the Caucasian peoples."
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 30 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 30, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. The Armenian
President Robert Kocharian and the French President Jacques Chirac
made speeches during the official ceremony of opening French Square
in Yerevan on September 30. Below is President Jacques Chirac's speech
with some abridgement:
"It is with great excitement that I am familiarizing myself with the
Armenian land.
Excitement caused by the first visit of the French state's leader to
the places bearing evidence of the birth of the world, these places
where the guardian-giant Mount Ararat is said to become a shelter
for Noah's Ark at the end of the Deluge.
Excitement about the heroic and full of suffering history of the
Armenian people from time immemorial. From the very first it was a
Christian people true to its identity and faith. A people on whose
fate a genocide will be imprinted for ever, the genocide to which it
fell vicim under conditions of the shocks caused by World War I and
the collapse of empires.
Excitement when I think about those who experienced this tragedy and
were forced to follow the sad path of exile. When I think about all
those who turned with confidence to France as a sister in belief that
it will provide shelter and solace.
Eventually, an excitement when It remember all those who resisted
the Nazi barbarism like Misak Mnushian and his friends. France will
never forget their struggle for our freedom.
... Your national heritage treasures - Urartu antiquities,
masterpieces of Christian Armenia, manuscripts of the Matenadaran,
works of Arshil Gorky and Parajanov will be on display at the most
famous cultural centers of France. They will remind the French about
the power of the Armenian culture, its support for our civilization
and its dissemination throughout the world.
Mister President,
Dear Friends,
Responding to your invitation to pay a state visit, I first of all
want to highlight the unique links between our two peoples. I want
to stress my confidence in Armenia's future.
Confidence in the ability of the young independent republic of an
ancient nation to build a legal state that guarantees democracy and
social freedoms and shares with us its commitment to human rights.
Confidence in the Armenian youth which has the aspiration for peace
and freedom and strives to use to the full its enthusiasm, its thirst
for justice and its enterprise.
Confidence in the ability of your state to succeed with its economic
development and confidence in its will to become a most favorable
place for investment thanks to those exceptional capabilities that
consist in the talent and cultural power of its youth.
Confidence in its ability to struggle for peace. It is a big challenge,
the most difficult one, which your country should overcome. A challenge
that Armenia can and must overcome because only a fair and lasting
peace will allow your people to realize its hopes.
I believe in peace. It was in the past that conflicts were settled by
force. The time when it was possible to instigate feuds in disregard
of peace and security is over.
It is only the dialog based on dignity and mutual respect that allows
one to look at the future in a long-term perspective.
Today those who achieve peace are the great ones - those capable
of overcoming bellicose legacies in order to open the path of
reconciliation. This is the evidence I want to present to you today
in this French Square which I would like to be a peace square as well.
Dear friends,
For the past ten years France has not spared efforts to find a solution
to the regretful Nagorno Karbakh conflict within the framework of
Minsk Group.
Today I want to believe that the time of peace has come. I want to
believe because I know the price of war. One last step has to be taken
to reach peace. A difficult step in evidence of faith in the future of
humanity. It leads against the false security of the current situation
and allows to choose the path of confident movement. This final step
can and must be taken in Yerevan and Baku because it allows to open
the horizon of light, peace and prosperity.
These are my wishes to all the Caucasian peoples."