WASHINGTON—The Ambassador of France to the United States has clarified, to leaders of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), remarks he made earlier this week on the MSNBC show Andrea Mitchell Reports that could have been misinterpreted as giving legitimacy to the denial of the Armenian Genocide.
In a communication to ANCA National Chairman Ken Hachikian and ANCA National Board member Raffi Hamparian, Ambassador Gerard Araud affirmed the fact that France has officially recognized the Armenian Genocide and his personal conviction that the Armenian Genocide constituted the first genocide in modern history.
“I am aware that some of my recent declarations have been misinterpreted as giving legitimacy to the denial of the Armenian Genocide,” Amb. Araud told the ANCA. “Nothing could [be] further from me. Not only does France recognize officially the Armenian Genocide but I have been myself bred in a city – Marseilles – with a vibrant Armenian community where I had a lot of friends. I have always been personally convinced that the sufferings inflicted on the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire constituted the first genocide in modern history. I hope this message will dispel any doubt that you could have on this topic.”
Prior to becoming the Ambassador of France to the United States, Araud served as the permanent pepresentative of France to the Security Council and head of the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations. He served as the president of the Security Council in February 2010, May 2011, August 2012 and December 2013.
“We welcome Ambassador Araud’s clarification of his comments regarding the Armenian Genocide,” remarked ANCA Communications Director Elizabeth Chouldjian. “Under President Francois Hollande and previous leaders, France has been a forceful and effective advocate in the global campaign to end Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide. In this year of the Armenian Genocide centennial, their vigilance and active leadership is all the more critical in the pursuit of justice for this crime.”
The controversy over Ambassador Araud’s comments on the Armenian Genocide arose over an appearance he made on the Andrea Mitchell Reports show on MSNBC on Jan. 12. On that show, host Andrea Mitchell began a conversation about free speech in which she remarked, “The tradition of free speech… it all began in France during the 1700’s and 18th century. But there are laws in France, laws that say you cannot deny the Holocaust, laws that say you cannot deny the Armenian Genocide. So why is it permissible to be as provocative as these anti-Muslim cartoons were. This is a debate we are having journalistically here in the United States as well,” Mitchell added.
In response to Andrea Mitchell’s question, Ambassador Araud stated: “Actually, on the Armenian Genocide there is no law about the denial of the Armenian Genocide. There is only one law about the denial of the Holocaust. Because it is not an opinion. The Holocaust took place. So, you know, you do not express an opinion when you say the Holocaust did not take place. It is a fact.”
The video of the Andrea Mitchell Reports interview is below:
Moments after Ambassador Araud’s comments, the ANCA social media pages erupted with concerns and calls from Armenian Americans and elected officials alike, demanding a clarification. Similar concerns were shared by the French Armenian community, prompting a strongly worded letter by the Bureau Francais de la Cause Armenienne (BFCA – ANC France) to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius asking for an immediate explanation. The text of the BFCA letter (in French) is attached.
France officially recognized the Armenian Genocide in 2001 with the adoption of law 2001-70. Last year, on April 24, President Francois Hollande joined the French Armenian community’s commemoration, offering powerful remarks condemning this crime and calling for the end of Turkey’s denial. President Hollande will be travelling to Armenia on April 24, 2015, to participate in Genocide centennial activities.
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While I appreciate the excellent work of the ANC in having the French ambassador “clarify” his remarks, I think the ANC should have gone one step further and should have asked him why he distinguished the Armenian Genocide from the Holocaust in his talk with Ms Mitchell. This is particularly warranted because he claims to have been intimately familiar with Genocide survivors from his earlier days in Marseille. I further suggest that Ms Mitchell should be informed of the ambassador’s subsequent clarification so that she might air those comments on nation-wide television. Otherwise the vast non-Armenian audience of MSNBC will remain unaware of the ambassador’s true views.
*** Shant, I agree with your comments totally, ANC should go further and ask those questions, also Ms. Mitchell should be informed of the ambassador’s subsequent clarification, absolutely..!!!
I agree that the Ambassador should inform Ms A. Mitchell about his very recent clarification (in verbatum) and to air it on nationwide television.
This is an ongoing issue with American media. In an effort to grab headlines, inaccurate news ends up getting propagated, but no followup to clarify it when it turns out to be inaccurate.
Ce N’est Pas Suffisant!!!!!!!
I thought that France did pass a law about speaking against the genocide last year. I remember Turkey being outraged. Am I mistaken?
French Assembly and Senate passed it overwhelmingly.
However, it was challenged by Turks’ allies in France and their danialist Anti-AG Collaborators, as allowed by French constitution.
Turks and their Anti-AG allies had ‘bought’ the French Constitutional Court before the deliberations: CC deemed the AG Law unconstitutional; strange reasoning, since a virtually identical law about Jewish Holocaust apparently has no issue with the French constitution.
Subsequently French-Armenians found evidence that at least one key CC judge was in the pocket of Turks.
C’est la vie.
A new version of the law authored by Valérie Boyer will be considered soon (hopefully).
Pres Hollande has indicated he will sign: we’ll see.
I believe it was the Swiss govt that passed the law that AG can not be denied.
Thanks for the clarification. It is like preaching to the choir .However, just like Shant suggested it should be done on national TV, just like MSNBC and alike.
No, you are not mistaken.Indeed, a law was passed against the denial of the Armenian Genocide by the French Senate 3 years ago (jan 23, 2012), making it punishable by 1 year of jail and/or a 45,000 euros fine (roughly $52,000), just like it is for the denial of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, after weeks and weeks of pressure from diverse political/interest groups within the French governement (not to mention Turkey with its usual threats), the law was somehow declared “unconstitutional” and voided 4 weeks later. Talk about double standards or what?
A double denialist. He denied the Armenian Genocide by saying it is an opinion, then denied that he denied it. Such an experienced diplomat does not speak lightly out of both sides of his mouth. For millions of viewers he supports the Turkish government’s view, for a small number of his dear Armenian friends he consoles them with empty reassurances. He did his job and the damage is done. Let’s not call it roses.
There are several things I would like to note about Mr. Araud actions.
I am not convinced that his comments or presentations with Andrea Mitchell were unintentional.
Clarifying his comments on the Andrea Mitchell show with ANCA leaders is insufficient and Mr. Araud should have issued an official declaration on behalf of the French government with a copy sent to the MSNBC and the Andrea Mitchell show.
Where is the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius’, who is a well know Turkophile, response to the Bureau Francais de la Cause Armenienne.
Why didn’t the Armenian government through the Foreign Minister of Armenia protest to the French government? Are we a weak nation?
In response to Andrea Mitchell’s question, Ambassador Araud stated: By saying “Actually, on the Armenian Genocide there is no law about the denial of the Armenian Genocide. There is only one law about the denial of the Holocaust. Because it is not an opinion. The Holocaust took place. So, you know, you do not express an opinion when you say the Holocaust did not take place. It is a fact.” Mr. Araud is in essence admitting to the fact that the French Constitutional Court is biased towards the Armenians and the Armenian Genocide since a member of the same court collaborated with a former Turkish Ambassador to overturn and declare the Law denying the Armenian Genocide unconstitutional. Therefore, I would say that either the French Constitution is flawed or French government officials are pro- Genocidal Turkey and are only giving lip service to Armenia and the Armenian community.
I’d say Merde…………………………………
There’s no question this is intentional. He went way off script–went out of his way really–in order to submit a public wink to the power players in Franco-turkish relations. No doubt this was a wink to Turkey on the eve of the centennial of genocide. Andrea Mitchell just primed the statement.
Silly and transparent. The damage is done, and the Armenian government needs to be the one here to demand a very public apology from France, not the ANCA.
it baffles me why armenians and there supporters arnt taking there case to world recognised international chuman rights court of some kind !!
Armenian should take the turks to court and be done with all the propaganda and lobbying !!the millions spent !!
surely armenia wants the justice the jews attainted surely they want payback and an international apology !!
but why arnt they !!
Who cares what his personal ideology is? Who cares what he said to ANCA? The damage is done and he can’t glue the pieces back together. A public retraction, statement and/or press release is in order.
The Holocast is a fact. The Genocide is a fact.
It is disheartening that the damage is done. MSNBC is a huge medium with a large audience.
The Ambassador’s clarification to ANCA falls short. The retraction should have been made officially and formally and released to the world press. ANCA’s main audience are Armenians. The rest of the world is unaware of the Ambassador’s clarification to the ANCA.
This is politics as usual; dishonest and hypocritical.
Rather than the ANCA address his Armenian supporters, the least they could do is to make a press release in Washington D.C. and New York.
Come on Ken and Aram. You can do better.
Vart Adjemian
I wish that Armenian organizations like the ANCA work on having laws implemented against genocide denying tactics employed by criminal regimes before even trying to get recognition for our Genocide. Had this been already done, working on our Genocide recognition would have been a lot easier.
For example, there needs to be a law where if any criminal regime perpetrates genocide, then subsequently engages in a campaign of denying and illegally pressuring nations to deny justice and thus be engaged in obstruction of justice then with the eventual recognition of such genocides, the penalties would quadruple and be a lot worse for the genocide perpetrating regime, and/or any person, group or lobby engaged in a campaign of denial. This would of course be also applicable to persons in any government whether part of the genocide perpetrating one, or the colluding one.
In other words, for Turkey, denying its acts of Genocide needs to have consequences in itself in addition to the acts of Genocide. Once such laws are passed, watch all these lower-than-dirt Genocide denying lobbies and groups run around like headless chickens.
And when, not if, they fervently try to stop such laws from passing, those engaged in that activity will have shown their guilt to begin with, because only genocide perpetrators would have a problem with such laws.
Definitely: Apology & clarification should be addressed to both MSNBC, and to the specific show. It was an outrageous statement on the part of the French Ambassador.
The Ambassador’s retraction was meant to appease ANCA and was merely intended for consumption by Armenians at large both in France and elsewhere. His “feel good” sentiments towards Armenians — he was brought up in Marseille and counted Armenians among his friends — is hollow, indeed. I’m surprised that ANCA was duped on this one by accepting Ambassador Araud’s “clarification” at face value. A formal apology and an official press release at the minimum would have been in order.
The Ambassador’s gesture is tantamount to a newspaper headline declaring that “Half of Our Politicians are Crooks”. When political pressure was brought to bear on the editorial board of the newspaper, the next day headline cleverly read: “Half of Our Politicians are NOT Crooks…” In Araud’s case the damage was already done on MSNBC’s original interview.
Garo Tashdjian
Probably another one who was paid by turkey or azeris.
To the Attention of Ken and Aram.
Where are you?
Are you going to accept Ambassador Araud’s dishonest, hypocrictal, anti-Armenian “Genocide” statement’s so called clarification?
His clarification is not worth anything, if it is not released to the news Media in general, and to MSNBC specifically.
The comments above are self-explanatory .
Please take action.
Vart Adjemian