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Will French Authorities Respond To Anti-Armenian Manifestations?

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  • Will French Authorities Respond To Anti-Armenian Manifestations?

    WILL FRENCH AUTHORITIES RESPOND TO ANTI-ARMENIAN MANIFESTATIONS?

    Noyan Tapan
    June 29, 2009

    SAINT-CHAMOND, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. According to
    the VAN organization working in France, notes of Nazi character were
    discovered on the entrance doors of the Saint Peter (Surb Petros)
    Armenian church of the Saint-Chamond city of Loire province,
    France: "Armenia-Nazi," "Armenia Le Pen-right extremist," "Death
    to Armenia." In VAN's opinion, these notes were made early in the
    morning of April 26, after the Sipan Komitas choir had performed in
    the mentioned church on the commemoration day of the Armenian Genocide
    victims, April 24. The hayernaysor.am electronic newspaper reported
    this. According to the same source, the Armenian organizations of Loire
    and Saint-Chamond introduced a complaint to Saint-Chamond Police on
    the incident, but received no response.

    According to VAN, it is not the first anti-Armenian manifestation
    in Saint-Chamond: a memorial of Armenian Genocide victims had been
    defiled with notes made with gas balloons, as well as the name board
    of the April 24 park had been broken or removed for many times before.

    According to the armenews.com website of the Nouvelles d'Armenie
    magazine published in France, in June non-identified persons with an
    abusive note and picture defiled an Armenian khachkar (cross-stone)
    in the city of Issy-les-Moulineaux. The Armenian organizations applied
    to Mayor, French National Assembly deputy Michel Barnier elected from
    Issy-les-Moulineaux in this connection, with the request of organizing
    a meeting to discuss the issue, but were refused. By the way, he had
    a meeting with city's Armenian community the day before the European
    Parliament elections to ask for voting for him.

    Infringements on the Armenian community of France are also manifested
    in the form of terrorism and physical retributions: according to the
    same website, on June 5 and 9 an Armenian young man was stabbed with
    a knife in his face.

    According to the data of Hrach Aslanian, the Head of the European
    Armenian Communities' Department of the RA Ministry of Diaspora, he
    is the son of Vice-Chairman and former Chairman of CCAF - Le Conseil
    de coordination des organisations armeniennes de France Ara Toranian.

    In connection with the incidents CCAF conveyed a complaint to French
    Minister of Internal Affairs Mrs Michelle Alliot-Marie for not pursuing
    investigations on the facts of criminally liable anti-Armenian
    manifestations, the Council demanded undertaking measures that are
    used to reveal those guilty of infringements on other communities
    of France and to punish them. The Minister has not responded to the
    application so far.

    It was mentioned that on October 12, 2006 the French National
    Assembly adopted a law envisaging criminal prosecution for denying
    the fact of Armenian Genocide. The law can come in force in case
    of being adopted by the Senate, but it does not take place as the
    UMP (People's Movement) ruling party of French President Nicolas
    Sarkozy making a majority there as if has imposed a ban on law's
    adoption. By the way, according to the armnews.com, both the right
    and left parties of France had promised to ensure adoption of the
    law before the European Parliament elections held on June 8. However,
    the very next day they forgot their promise, and CCAF had to organize
    actions of protest before all influential French parties' offices
    reminding them of their promise.
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