“People in France do not know that Turks lost 2.5 million people in the period leading to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, while we lost 1.6 million around the same time in World War I,” Laurent Bili, the French ambassador told Today's Zaman on Monday. Bili touched on an issue that is usually left untouched by Western diplomats when they reflect on the events of 1915, which has recently been described as the date of the alleged “Armenian genocide.”

“People should know, and I am trying to let them know, about all those losses. But Turks should also know that France is home to ethnic Armenians; about ten times the Armenian population in Turkey,” Bili stated to clarify the motivation behind the controversial denial bill in France. “Remembering their pains, as well as genocide, has become part of French history. In fact, mine is an impossible mission to accomplish,” Bili said, to express that French officials are impacted by the weight of the losses suffered by Armenians, half a million of whom reside in France. In the light of upcoming elections, their vote may make a big difference.

The election is expected to be a contest between current President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Socialist Party rival François Hollande.

In response to what can be done to bridge Armenian-Turkish relations, Bili proposed that Armenians in France should visit Turkey; he thinks that Armenians do not know how Turkey has changed. “Maybe we, the French diplomats, have not worked hard enough to explain the changes [in Turkey] and looked the other way, but we eventually need to find a way to bring Turkey closer with the Armenian diaspora,” Bili said to explain the lack of information in France with regards to the “fast-paced changes in Turkey.” Having worked as an adviser to France’s former president, Jacques Chirac, and learned a vast amount about the Caucuses, Bili invited the Armenians in France to “come and get to know Turkey and meet a Turk,” saying that it is high time to solve the issue.

Based on his knowledge on the events of 1915, Bili further stressed that the alleged genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks cannot be understood “merely by looking at events of 1915.” Bili expressed his opinion that the events started long before 1915. “To understand the tragedy you need to look further than 1915; Turks’ expulsion from the Caucuses and Balkans started gradually in 1878,” Bili added. He claims that, among the one million Turks expelled from the Balkans, more than 100,000 went missing. “I understand that Armenians paid the price at the end of the long suffering. But in this vast region, you need to understand what happened for a 100 years,” Bili added. He also expressed concerns over whether his post in Turkey will resume after the controversial French bill, which was taken to the French Constitutional Council for a possible annulment a day after Bili made his comments regarding the denial bill. “All in all, the bill might be unsuitable, but it should not elicit extreme reactions,” he said in an attempt to calm the anxieties of Turkish officials. The bill might make it a crime to say that the Armenian deaths of 1915 did not constitute genocide, and punish offenders by up to one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euro. “There has been quite a lot of discussion on the compatibility of such bills in France. Severing ties is not the best way of building tomorrow’s world,” the French ambassador also said to urge Turkey not to overreact in the event that the bill passes and becomes a law.

As regards the climate in Turkey when he first arrived in the country, Bili said: “The atmosphere was extremely different when I got here. I received clear instructions: France needs to pay attention to its relations with Turkey and we need to start a new process.” Bili added that the atmosphere changed in October and, “Now we are back to the Armenian issue and the tension is palpable. My job is not that easy.”
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