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ARMENIAN COUPLE NAME BABY SARKOZY AS GENOCIDE BILL ROW RUMBLES ON
By Tony Cross
RFi
http://www.english.rfi.fr/europe/20120127-armenian-couple-name-baby-sarkozy-genocide-bill-row-rumbles
France
Jan 27 2012
An Armenian couple have named their new-born baby Sarkozy as a tribute
to the French parliament's approval of a law making it illegal that
genocide of Armenians took place in Turkey in 1915.
"Let our child, Sarkozy Avetissian, become as brave and just a man"
as the French president, declared his grandmother, Alvard Manoukian,
when explaining the choice to journalists.
"We were going to give him the name of his grandfather but, after
the French Senate passed this law in spite of the Turks' threats,
we decided to baptise him in honour of the French president," the
father, Karapet Avetisyan, told local television.
News of the bill's approval has been enthusiastically received
in Armenia.
"It is a very important mechanism to prevent future crimes against
humanity," Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said during
a visit to Latvia.
President Nicolas Sarkozy will sign the bill into law within 15 days,
the Elysee Palace has announced with officials pointing out that
previous boycotts announced by the Turks - in 2001 when a law declaring
that genocide had taken place was passed and in 2006 when the current
bill was first mooted - have not seriously disrupted bilateral trade.
But 33 members of Sarkozy's own party, the UMP, have joined Senators
from six parties in an appeal to the Constitutional Council to block
the bill and the Franco-Turkish Chamber of Commerce has called for
it to be invalidated.
Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has described the bill as "unhelpful
and counterproductive", appealing to "our Turkish friends" to keep
their cool.
By Tony Cross
RFi
http://www.english.rfi.fr/europe/20120127-armenian-couple-name-baby-sarkozy-genocide-bill-row-rumbles
France
Jan 27 2012
An Armenian couple have named their new-born baby Sarkozy as a tribute
to the French parliament's approval of a law making it illegal that
genocide of Armenians took place in Turkey in 1915.
"Let our child, Sarkozy Avetissian, become as brave and just a man"
as the French president, declared his grandmother, Alvard Manoukian,
when explaining the choice to journalists.
"We were going to give him the name of his grandfather but, after
the French Senate passed this law in spite of the Turks' threats,
we decided to baptise him in honour of the French president," the
father, Karapet Avetisyan, told local television.
News of the bill's approval has been enthusiastically received
in Armenia.
"It is a very important mechanism to prevent future crimes against
humanity," Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said during
a visit to Latvia.
President Nicolas Sarkozy will sign the bill into law within 15 days,
the Elysee Palace has announced with officials pointing out that
previous boycotts announced by the Turks - in 2001 when a law declaring
that genocide had taken place was passed and in 2006 when the current
bill was first mooted - have not seriously disrupted bilateral trade.
But 33 members of Sarkozy's own party, the UMP, have joined Senators
from six parties in an appeal to the Constitutional Council to block
the bill and the Franco-Turkish Chamber of Commerce has called for
it to be invalidated.
Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has described the bill as "unhelpful
and counterproductive", appealing to "our Turkish friends" to keep
their cool.