“Yerkir” contends that the new French law criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide has both a “moral and political significance.” “Turkey is faced with the challenge of neutralizing a possible chain reaction of genocide recognitions, realizing that the language of blackmail is not helpful anymore,” writes the paper. “That means the Turks may again play the card of reconciliation with the Armenians and only imitate it in practice by trying to return to the political and diplomatic agenda the [Turkish-Armenian] protocols signed in 2009 but still not ratified.” The paper believes that in order to forestall such a maneuver Armenia should officially scrap the protocols as soon as possible.
“Zhamanak” says the passage of the bill has provoked too much “euphoria” in Armenia and should not overshadow serious problems facing the country. “The adoption of the French bill can be objectively important to Armenia and its people only if it is viewed in a pragmatic manner, rather than a euphoric mood,” writes the paper. Armenia’s main “weapon” in the international arena should be not its foreign allies and friends but “we and our state in the first instance.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” says the bill’s passage was a “well-calculated pre-election step which is naturally useful in terms of international recognition of the Armenian genocide” not least because of widespread international media coverage of the issue. The paper says that many uninformed people around the world will now reckon that “a serious country like France” would have hardly enacted such a law had the 1915 Armenian massacres in Ottoman Turkey not been genocide. It says things would have been very different if Ankara and Yerevan had set up a “subcommission” of historians envisaged by the 2009 protocols.
“Yesterday was an exceptional day indeed and at one point it appeared that national unity has finally come about,” writes “Hayots Ashkhar.” “It only appeared so, but that’s still something.”
“The Armenian people are jubilant,” “Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun” comments disapprovingly. “We have scored two moral victories at once. As a result of them -- if we put aside emotions -- two things will happen. Turkish-Armenian relations will become more tense and the Karabakh conflict will not be solved in the near future.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
“Zhamanak” says the passage of the bill has provoked too much “euphoria” in Armenia and should not overshadow serious problems facing the country. “The adoption of the French bill can be objectively important to Armenia and its people only if it is viewed in a pragmatic manner, rather than a euphoric mood,” writes the paper. Armenia’s main “weapon” in the international arena should be not its foreign allies and friends but “we and our state in the first instance.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” says the bill’s passage was a “well-calculated pre-election step which is naturally useful in terms of international recognition of the Armenian genocide” not least because of widespread international media coverage of the issue. The paper says that many uninformed people around the world will now reckon that “a serious country like France” would have hardly enacted such a law had the 1915 Armenian massacres in Ottoman Turkey not been genocide. It says things would have been very different if Ankara and Yerevan had set up a “subcommission” of historians envisaged by the 2009 protocols.
“Yesterday was an exceptional day indeed and at one point it appeared that national unity has finally come about,” writes “Hayots Ashkhar.” “It only appeared so, but that’s still something.”
“The Armenian people are jubilant,” “Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun” comments disapprovingly. “We have scored two moral victories at once. As a result of them -- if we put aside emotions -- two things will happen. Turkish-Armenian relations will become more tense and the Karabakh conflict will not be solved in the near future.”
(Tigran Avetisian)