Chirac, in Yerevan, urges Turkey to recognise Armenian 'Genocide'.

[Flagg]

CHIRAC, IN YEREVAN, URGES TURKEY TO RECOGNISE ARMENIAN 'GENOCIDE'

Received Saturday, 30 September 2006 10:53:00 GMT
YEREVAN, Sept 30, 2006 (AFP) - French President Jacques Chirac said Saturday that Turkey should recognise the massacre of Armenians during World War I as genocide before the country's hoped-for accession to the European Union.
Asked at a press conference if he thought Turkey should recognise the 1915-1917 massacre as genocide before it joins the EU, he replied: "honestly, I believe so."
"All countries grow up acknowledging their dramas and their errors," said Chirac, who is on a two-day visit to Armenia.
France, which has 400,000 citizens of Armenian descent, officially recognized the massacres of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks as genocide in 2001, putting a strain on its relations with EU aspirant Turkey.
Many countries, including the United States and Israel, have so far refused to label the massacres as genocide.
Armenians throughout the world have pushed for official recognition of the killings, in which they say 1.5 million of their brethren perished, as genocide.

http://www.ttc.org/200609301053.k8uarsj22463.htm

[Vidar]

1. Applauding Chirac.

[Eurobabe]

2. Damn straight, my ex-husband's family fled Armenia

to escape the massacres in the 1915-16 time period.

Anyone who has doubts about this being a "genocide" and want to see a great historical drama set in contemporary times, rent Ararat. It is a phenomenal movie. My children are 1/4 Armenian, and I encourage them to gather as much info as possible from their great aunt as she is the only one in the family that is still alive (not because of the genocide, they all successfully escaped to America)

[kskiska]

7. I'm 1/4 Armenian

My grandfather and a few family members fled Armenia in 1909, even before the 1915 atrocities, and the stories that filtered down in the family show that the Turks were very active along these lines way before 1915. The rest of his family was massacred, including a young wife. I came upon a handwritten affidavit recently, written by my grandfather's cousin around 1930. Apparently it was meant to be proof of my grandfather's Armenian wife's death. It states that another relative actually saw her murdered by the Turks.

Unfortunately, I never knew my grandfather, as he died of a spinal tumor at the age of 35 in 1930 when my mother was 7. From my memories of his artifacts in our attic, I gather he was an intelligent man, a socialist, having had numerous books by Lincoln Steffens.

[Eurobabe]

9. I have been after my kids to write an oral history of

what their great Aunt knows about the family, and to copy her recipes (lahmajhoon, monti) we have the recipe for shish kebab, and pilaf already, thank GOD!! I would like to take my daughters to Armenia one day.

Have you seen Ararat by Atom Egoyan? It is very moving.

[jellybeancurse]

3. The EU should make the recognition of genocide

part of the agreement to be considered for admittance.

[Wilms]

4. Thanks for posting. n/t

[Hardrada]

5. This has been long overdue.

The Kurds were part of the killing machine too and should also acknowledge this.

[BuddhaGirl]

6. Good for Chirac!

Turkey should recognize the Armenian Genocide, and I agree that the recognition be a requirement to join the EU.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

8. He added,

"As the representative of the sole Western nation to have actively participated in a genocide in the past fifty years, I know what I'm talking about."