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Nathalie Goulet: At present, the French parliament has no bill criminalizing the denial of the so-called â€œArmenian genocide"

17 December 2012 08:30 (UTC +04:00)

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.”