Republican Party of Armenia

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday met with representatives of French-Armenian organizations. The event brought together Armenia’s Ambassador to France, Vigen Chitechyan; Hauts-de-Seine Department Council Chairman, Patrick Devedjian; film producer Alain Terzian; world-renowned singer Charles Aznavour’s impresario, Levon Sayan; and many others.
During the meeting, Sarkozy reconfirmed his commitment to introduce a new bill that criminalizes the denial of genocides, including the Armenian Genocide. He stressed that he will introduce this law proposal once he is reelected president.

To note, in 2001 France formally recognized—by a law—the Armenian Genocide. But the country’s Constitutional Council recently deemed unconstitutional the bill that criminalizes the denial of genocides, including the Armenian Genocide. Subsequently, Sarkozy commissioned the Government to prepare a new law proposal, but he Government informed that the draft law cannot be examined within the term of the current parliament, which came to a close. Consequently, it will be postponed until the parliamentary sessions that will be held following France’s presidential and parliamentary elections to be conducted this May and June respectively.