French Senate’s decision was message to Turkey – Armenian analyst.

The impact, for Armenia, of the French Senate’s passing of the bill that criminalizes the denial of genocides, including the Armenian Genocide, was three kilograms, and in the form of a child: Sarkozy Avetisyan, Regional Studies Center Director Richard Giragosian joked during a press conference on Thursday.

The analyst meant the baby born yesterday in Armenia`s Lori region, whose parents called him Sarkozy in honour of French President Nikolas Sarkozy.

“We have many Hamlets in Armenia, but this was the first Sarkozy. This also shows the voting’s importance for Armenia,” Giragosian added. 

The analyst also noted that this voting was a huge message to Turkey, in the sense that genocide recognition is an international movement which cannot be stopped. “Genocide recognition is stronger today than before. There was huge pressure on Turkey. The French Senate’s voting day was very important, since the voting took place days before the anniversary of the murder of [Hrant] Dink [the founder and former chief editor of Istanbul’s Agos Armenian weekly, who was killed in 2007]. This shows how Turkey will change,” Richard Giragosian stressed.    

“The third development is connected with EU-Turkey relations. This was a very good opportunity for France to harm Turkey’s EU [membership] bid. Turkey is compelled to look toward the East. For example, returning to the football policy, [and] normalization of relations,” the analyst maintained.  

And the fourth development, as per Richard Giragosian, was that Turkey’s reaction to the French Senate’s decision further intensified the genocide talks.