Serzh Sargsyan, in the framework of three-day official visit to France, gave an interview to the famous “Le Figaro” newspaper, which has been titled “The Lesson of France to Turkey.”
Armenian President described the Armenian-French relations as “unique” and noted that the French Armenian community is a bridge between the two countries.
Speaking about the bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide, President Serzh Sargsyan said: “The French policy on the Armenian Genocide has not been imposed by Armenia. I welcome President Oland’s clear stance expressed both during the election campaign and in the capacity of the president.”
President also mentioned that Armenia cannot stay indifferent to the events in Syria, as there are many Armenian communities. “The Republic of Armenia will do all in its power to promote the maintenance of peace in the country and ensure a sustainable and viable presence of the Armenian community.”
Touching upon the Paris meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers, Serzh Sargsyan said it resulted in an agreement to continue negotiations for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the current format. “However, this meeting is far from giving new hopes. Baku denies the principles proposed by mediators as a basis for talks and believes it is possible to negotiate a peace agreement without having agreed on the basic principles.”
There was also such question whether Franco-Turkish rapprochement bothers the RA president. “Of course not. Our policy is not based on the desire to harm Turkey. It is based on clear principles. We want Turkey to interact with France and other European countries as much as possible, so that due to these contacts it could receive European values.”
Mr. Sargsyan also noted that Turkish leaders should take French President Francois Oland, who recently condemned the deportation of French Jews during World War II, as an example of how to face the past, French presidents have had the strength to face history. I applaud their courage.”
