TURKEY SHOULD 'REVISIT HISTORY' OF ARMENIA KILLINGS: SARKOZY
Ahram Online
http://english.ahram.org.eg/~/NewsContent/2/9/23520/World/International/Turkey-should-revisit-history-of-Armenia-killings-.aspx
Oct 6 2011
Egypt
In his visit to Armenia, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy calls
on Turkey to "revisit" its history, referring to the 1915 Armenian
massacre
French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Turkey on Thursday to "revisit"
its history regarding the 1915 massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire, which France views as a genocide but Turkey does not.
"Turkey, which is a great country, would be honorable to revisit its
history like the other great countries in the world have done: Germany,
France," Sarkozy told journalists at the joint press-conference with
Armenian counterpart Serge Sarkisyan.
Sarkozy arrived in Armenia on Thursday for the first stage of a two-day
swing through the Caucasus that will also take him to Azerbaijan
and Georgia.
Sarkozy and his delegation including four ministers, film director
Alain Terzian and singers Charles Aznavour and Helene Segara, were
greeted at the airport by Armenian President Serge Sarkisyan.
He will start his visit by meeting with the Patriarch of Armenia's
Christian church, and then visit the Genocide Memorial Museum to pay
respects to Armenians killed by the Ottomans in 1915.
A century later, this issue is likely to overshadow the visit of
Sarkozy, who angered Turkey ahead of his election in 2007 by backing
a law aimed at prosecuting those who refuse to recognise the event
as a genocide.
The French lower house of parliament later rejected the measure,
infuriating an Armenian diaspora of some 500,000 people.
Sarkozy has also indicated his ambition to bring Armenia and
neighbouring Azerbaijan forward in the stalled peace process over
the tiny Nagorny Karabakh region.
But just as the French leader called out to the two rivals to "take
the risk of peace" in an interview Wednesday evening, pro-Armenian
authorities that control Karabakh said a soldier was killed by
Azerbaijani forces.
Baku responded Thursday with the accusation that two soldiers were
shot dead from the Armenian side.
Seventeen soldiers have now been reported killed this year along the
ceasefire line in Karabakh. Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan
seized the territory from Azerbaijan in a war in the 1990s that left
some 30,000 dead.
Despite years of talks since the 1994 ceasefire, the two sides have
still to sign a final peace deal.
Ahram Online
http://english.ahram.org.eg/~/NewsContent/2/9/23520/World/International/Turkey-should-revisit-history-of-Armenia-killings-.aspx
Oct 6 2011
Egypt
In his visit to Armenia, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy calls
on Turkey to "revisit" its history, referring to the 1915 Armenian
massacre
French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Turkey on Thursday to "revisit"
its history regarding the 1915 massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire, which France views as a genocide but Turkey does not.
"Turkey, which is a great country, would be honorable to revisit its
history like the other great countries in the world have done: Germany,
France," Sarkozy told journalists at the joint press-conference with
Armenian counterpart Serge Sarkisyan.
Sarkozy arrived in Armenia on Thursday for the first stage of a two-day
swing through the Caucasus that will also take him to Azerbaijan
and Georgia.
Sarkozy and his delegation including four ministers, film director
Alain Terzian and singers Charles Aznavour and Helene Segara, were
greeted at the airport by Armenian President Serge Sarkisyan.
He will start his visit by meeting with the Patriarch of Armenia's
Christian church, and then visit the Genocide Memorial Museum to pay
respects to Armenians killed by the Ottomans in 1915.
A century later, this issue is likely to overshadow the visit of
Sarkozy, who angered Turkey ahead of his election in 2007 by backing
a law aimed at prosecuting those who refuse to recognise the event
as a genocide.
The French lower house of parliament later rejected the measure,
infuriating an Armenian diaspora of some 500,000 people.
Sarkozy has also indicated his ambition to bring Armenia and
neighbouring Azerbaijan forward in the stalled peace process over
the tiny Nagorny Karabakh region.
But just as the French leader called out to the two rivals to "take
the risk of peace" in an interview Wednesday evening, pro-Armenian
authorities that control Karabakh said a soldier was killed by
Azerbaijani forces.
Baku responded Thursday with the accusation that two soldiers were
shot dead from the Armenian side.
Seventeen soldiers have now been reported killed this year along the
ceasefire line in Karabakh. Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan
seized the territory from Azerbaijan in a war in the 1990s that left
some 30,000 dead.
Despite years of talks since the 1994 ceasefire, the two sides have
still to sign a final peace deal.