Baku outraged with French Senate decision

The people of Azerbaijan have condemned the French Senate decision on recognition of the so-called “Armenian genocide” in Turkey in 1915.

“We have always been against such decisions. We were and still are protesting to the speculations on an Armenian genocide. We are together with Turkey and Turkey is with us. The stone thrown at Turkey hurts us and the other way round”, said President Aliyev Friday in a meeting with the Milli Mejlis delegation leaving for Strasbourg to attend the ceremony of Azerbaijan’s admission to the Council of Europe.

“It would be better if France gave a worthy assessment to a true genocide perpetrated by Armenians in Khojali, ousting of a million of people from the native lands”, says chairman of the Caucasus clerical office A. Pashazadeh.

Both pro-governmental and opposition parties have both condemned this step of France, saying it calls into question this country’s fair position in the OSCE Minsk Group. According to the deputy executive secretary of the governing “Yeni Azerbaijan Party” Mubariz Gurbanli, the decision will neither reverse the development of Turkey nor benefit Armenians. Chairman of the “Adalat” party Ilyas Ismayilov has announced that by making this step France has demonstrated its attitude to the solution of the Garabagh problem and the entire Turkic world. He added that Azerbaijan must reconsider relations with this country is all areas. A member of the Musavat Board Mehman Javadoglu has called upon Turkey and Azerbaijan to prevent the internationally expanding recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide.

Two pickets of protest have already been held in front of the French embassy in Baku.

Analysts and political observers say if president Jacques Chiraq does not veto the decision, it will hurt France’s image in the region, reduce its efforts as an Minsh Group co-chair to nil, and lead to tensions in Turkish-French and Azeri-French relations.