On the occasion of the Grand annual dinner of the Assyro-Chaldeans of France, organized this Tuesday, February 27 in Paris, the former President of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy delivered a major speech in support of this community of some 40,000 members present on the National territory.
The Assyro-Chaldeans continue to demand official recognition by France of the genocide of more than 250,000 of their ancestors committed by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1918. And this, as other European countries have already done.
“Today the Armenian genocide is recognized.
Justice has been served to the dead.
The genocide of your ancestors is still not recognized by our laws,” declared Nicolas Sarkozy from the podium in front of more than 150 guests, including parliamentarians from all sides.
“You demand this official recognition of the misfortunes of your people.
My presence among you is a mark of my complete support for this recognition,” continued the ex-president who had already taken a stand in 2011, then at the Élysée, against “a religious purge”.
And to insist again, this Tuesday evening: “Half of a population disappearing in a few months is not a massacre, as History is punctuated by it, it is a genocide, planned and orchestrated.
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“The government must decide and the President of the Republic must do so”
Precisely a year ago, senators LR Bruno Retailleau, present in the room, and Valérie Boyer, tabled a proposed resolution for France to recognize this genocide.
A text then largely voted on by the upper house.
Today, Nicolas Sarkozy, who calls himself a “Christian by training, culture and heart,” is urging the French state to go further.
“This resolution which directly challenges the government therefore awaits a response,” the former president firmly pointed out.
“The Armenian genocide was recognized in 2001, it has been twenty-three years and this long wait has lasted too long.
It is time that the equality in death and misfortune of the Armenian and Assyro-Chaldean peoples is finally recognized.
The government must pronounce itself and the President of the Republic must do so,” said Nicolas Sarkozy, adding that the Assyro-Chaldeans could “count on his support to tell him so”.
An “essential” recognition for all Eastern Christians who aspire to regain their lands.
“Our duty is to tirelessly defend the right of Christians to live at home,” concluded Nicolas Sarkozy, much applauded, calling for “awakening consciences.”
Before heading to the Élysée where the state dinner was held in honor of the Emir of Qatar.