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Agence France Presse
October 7, 2011 Friday 7:44 PM GMT
'Peacemaker' Sarkozy admonishes Russia and Turkey
TBILISI, Oct 7 2011
French President Nicolas Sarkozy accused Russia on Friday of
threatening Georgia and also drew swords with Turkey during a
whistle-stop tour of the Caucasus that played up his commitment to
rights issues.
Seeking to portray himself as a peacemaker during the three-nation
trip, Sarkozy -- who brokered the deal to end the 2008 Georgia-Russia
war -- told thousands of cheering Georgians that Moscow was still
intimidating its defeated neighbour.
"France sees Russia as its friend, as a strategic partner. But to
restore confidence, threats, intimidation, threats and attempts to
destabilise (the situation) are fully unacceptable," he told the
receptive Freedom Square crowd.
Georgia accuses Russia of violating the peace agreement by not pulling
its troops back to pre-war positions and "occupying" the rebel
provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Moscow recognised as
independent states after the 2008 conflict.
In comments likely to irritate the Kremlin, which says its troops in
the provinces are there to protect them from Georgia, Sarkozy said
Russia must withdraw its forces and fulfill its "word and honour".
"Against all strategic logic and contrary to undertaken commitments,
significant military forces are still stationed and were reinforced at
your (Georgia's) door, on the other side of the dividing lines," he
told the flag-waving crowd.
Using firm language that echoed the recent split with the Kremlin over
action in Libya and Syria, Sarkozy said that Russia must stop the
Soviet-era practice of bossing sovereign territories that once
answered to Moscow.
"Everyone must admit that the Soviet Union does not exist anymore and
that a policy of spheres of influence is not intended to succeed it,"
he said, adding that Georgia should be able to express its aspirations
to join the EU and NATO.
The French leader -- who is expected to seek re-election despite
current difficulties at home -- also courted controversy in Armenia by
demanding that Turkey recognise the World War I-era massacres of
Armenians as genocide before his first term ends next year.
"From 1915 to 2011, it seems to be enough (time) for reflection," he
said in Yerevan.
Turkey, which denies genocide, responded with fury.
"It would be better... if Monsieur Sarkozy abandons the role of
historian and puts his mind to getting his country out of the economic
gulf in which it finds itself," said Ankara's European Affairs
Minister Egemen Bagis.
Armenia and Turkey have gone through decades of hostility over the
Ottoman empire massacres, but Sarkozy said "the time has come to find
the path of lasting peace", citing the example of France and Germany
after World War II.
He warned that if Turkey did not make a "gesture of peace" and a "step
towards reconciliation", he would consider proposing the adoption of a
law criminalising denial of the killings as genocide.
Armenians say that up to 1.5 million of their kin fell victim to
genocide, but Turkey counters that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at
least as many Turks died in civil strife.
The French leader previously angered Ankara ahead of his election in
2007 by backing a law aimed at prosecuting those who refused to
recognise the massacres as genocide.
France's lower house of parliament later rejected the measure,
infuriating the Armenian diaspora in France estimated at around
500,000 people.
During his visit, Sarkozy also urged Armenia and the third country on
his Caucasus tour, Azerbaijan, to reinvigorate their stalled peace
process over Nagorny Karabakh -- the focus of a bitter unresolved
conflict that erupted into war in the 1990s, leaving some 30,000 dead.
In Baku, he encouraged Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to "move
towards peace in the region", which he said was "possible", a French
presidency official told AFP.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders both welcomed Sarkozy's
involvement, but on the eve of his arrival three soldiers were killed
on the front line in a sign of continuing tensions over mountainous
Karabakh, which Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized from
Azerbaijan during the war.
pa-emc/zak/gk
October 7, 2011 Friday 7:44 PM GMT
'Peacemaker' Sarkozy admonishes Russia and Turkey
TBILISI, Oct 7 2011
French President Nicolas Sarkozy accused Russia on Friday of
threatening Georgia and also drew swords with Turkey during a
whistle-stop tour of the Caucasus that played up his commitment to
rights issues.
Seeking to portray himself as a peacemaker during the three-nation
trip, Sarkozy -- who brokered the deal to end the 2008 Georgia-Russia
war -- told thousands of cheering Georgians that Moscow was still
intimidating its defeated neighbour.
"France sees Russia as its friend, as a strategic partner. But to
restore confidence, threats, intimidation, threats and attempts to
destabilise (the situation) are fully unacceptable," he told the
receptive Freedom Square crowd.
Georgia accuses Russia of violating the peace agreement by not pulling
its troops back to pre-war positions and "occupying" the rebel
provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Moscow recognised as
independent states after the 2008 conflict.
In comments likely to irritate the Kremlin, which says its troops in
the provinces are there to protect them from Georgia, Sarkozy said
Russia must withdraw its forces and fulfill its "word and honour".
"Against all strategic logic and contrary to undertaken commitments,
significant military forces are still stationed and were reinforced at
your (Georgia's) door, on the other side of the dividing lines," he
told the flag-waving crowd.
Using firm language that echoed the recent split with the Kremlin over
action in Libya and Syria, Sarkozy said that Russia must stop the
Soviet-era practice of bossing sovereign territories that once
answered to Moscow.
"Everyone must admit that the Soviet Union does not exist anymore and
that a policy of spheres of influence is not intended to succeed it,"
he said, adding that Georgia should be able to express its aspirations
to join the EU and NATO.
The French leader -- who is expected to seek re-election despite
current difficulties at home -- also courted controversy in Armenia by
demanding that Turkey recognise the World War I-era massacres of
Armenians as genocide before his first term ends next year.
"From 1915 to 2011, it seems to be enough (time) for reflection," he
said in Yerevan.
Turkey, which denies genocide, responded with fury.
"It would be better... if Monsieur Sarkozy abandons the role of
historian and puts his mind to getting his country out of the economic
gulf in which it finds itself," said Ankara's European Affairs
Minister Egemen Bagis.
Armenia and Turkey have gone through decades of hostility over the
Ottoman empire massacres, but Sarkozy said "the time has come to find
the path of lasting peace", citing the example of France and Germany
after World War II.
He warned that if Turkey did not make a "gesture of peace" and a "step
towards reconciliation", he would consider proposing the adoption of a
law criminalising denial of the killings as genocide.
Armenians say that up to 1.5 million of their kin fell victim to
genocide, but Turkey counters that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at
least as many Turks died in civil strife.
The French leader previously angered Ankara ahead of his election in
2007 by backing a law aimed at prosecuting those who refused to
recognise the massacres as genocide.
France's lower house of parliament later rejected the measure,
infuriating the Armenian diaspora in France estimated at around
500,000 people.
During his visit, Sarkozy also urged Armenia and the third country on
his Caucasus tour, Azerbaijan, to reinvigorate their stalled peace
process over Nagorny Karabakh -- the focus of a bitter unresolved
conflict that erupted into war in the 1990s, leaving some 30,000 dead.
In Baku, he encouraged Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to "move
towards peace in the region", which he said was "possible", a French
presidency official told AFP.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders both welcomed Sarkozy's
involvement, but on the eve of his arrival three soldiers were killed
on the front line in a sign of continuing tensions over mountainous
Karabakh, which Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized from
Azerbaijan during the war.
pa-emc/zak/gk