NATHALIE GOULET: AT PRESENT, THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT HAS NO BILL CRIMINALIZING THE DENIAL OF THE SO-CALLED “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE”
APA
Dec 17 2012
Azerbaijan
Member of the French Senate visited Marneuli
Georgia. Nizami Mammadzadeh – APA. Deputy chairperson of France-
Caucasus friendship group, senator Nathalie Goulet and representative
of the French embassy in Georgia visited Marneuli on Sunday.
APA’s Georgian bureau reports that Nathalie Goulet met with the
youth and intellectuals at the Azerbaijani’s Cultural Center (ACC)
and announced the reason of her visit: “I am visiting Georgia for
the first time, our aim is to establish the relations with the new
government and meet with the parliament’s leadership.”
Nathalie Goulet expressed her satisfaction with peaceful life of
Azerbaijanis with Armenians: “If Azerbaijanis and Armenians live
peacefully in Georgia, I hope that one day they will live so in
Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh. These peoples must be ready to live
peacefully. But it takes time. The history demands it. In Marneuli
among the Azerbaijanis, I feel myself at home. Important and great
activities are being carried out at the Cultural Center. Intercultural
integration exists here. You even can be estimable citizens of
Georgia. It is good for you.”
Goulet noted that Georgia and Azerbaijan must always develop as
friendly countries: “It is necessary for the independence of Georgia.
Azerbaijan and Georgia are cooperating in economic and energy spheres
and Azerbaijan has helped this country much.”
Following this, the senator responded the questions of the youth and
intellectuals. Responding to the question on Khojaly, Goulet said that
she didn’t call Khojaly tragedy genocide: “Of course, what happened
in Khojaly is terrible. But it happened during the war. That’s why it
is not called genocide. Few people were killed there. Such accident
also happened in France. A French village was completely destroyed
during World War II. We don’t call it genocide, either.”
Head of the Cultural Center Fazil Hasanov presented the book on
Nagorno Karabakh and Khojaly genocide to the guest at the event.
Nathalie Goulet told journalists that the activity of the OSCE
Minsk Group was insufficient and Europe didn’t pursue a real policy
on the South Caucasus. She also commented on the adoption of the
bill criminalizing the denial of the so-called “Armenian genocide”
at the French parliament: “There is no such a bill now. The French
Supreme Court doesn’t consider it right to raise this issue again. In
general, you must forget this issue, because, at present, the French
parliament has no bill criminalizing the denial of the so-called
“Armenian Genocide.”