Whom Will the Armenian Community Support During the Presidential Elections in France

• 02.24.2017, 11:57
•  Europe,  World,  Diaspora

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Presidential elections in France will be held in the spring of 2017. One of the main issues that will make clear the stance or the stances of half a million Armenian community, are the approaches of the candidates on Armenian issues.

During the current campaign, the leader of the French far-right party "National Front" Marine Le Pen has not yet made any statements about Armenians and the Armenian question.

However, Le Pen periodically dealt with this issue during her political career. It should be recalled that in 2015, Le Pen was among the initiators of the European Parliament resolution which called on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide. At the same time, Le Pen periodically came up with anti-Turkish statements. However, the French-Armenian community is very cautious about Le Pen’s positions. During the previous campaign, she said: "I am outraged by the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide." The head of the French extreme right party accused Nicolas Sarkozy for using the Armenian issue for political purposes. The leader of the "National Front", as a presidential candidate, clearly marked her position saying: "We must first address those issues that affect ourselves and the French Parliament should not interfere in the Armenian-Turkish history". Another signal for French Armenians is the fact that Le Pen stands for assimilation of ethnic communities in the country with French society.

The most pro-Armenian position is one of the candidates from the Republican Party, Francois Fillon. He made pro-Armenian statements especially after the April four-day war. Nouvelles d'Armenie magazine asked him a series of questions about the Armenian community in France. One of the questions was linked to the official recognition of the April 24 as National Day of Remembrance and the other one to the fight against the Turkish Genocide denial policy with the support of the French authorities. On both questions, François Fillon responded positively and agreed to establish an Armenian memory center in Paris. It is also worth noting that Fillon’s team includes many pro-Armenian figures, like Guy Tessier, Henri Novelli and Valérie Boyer.

Recently, with his pro-Armenian statements has been distinguished also the candidate of the Socialist Party, Benoît Hamon, who was the only candidate for president to attend the annual dinner of the Armenian community (except the leaders of the far-right and far-left parties, Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Melanshona) , all the presidential candidates received the invitation, while Fillon rejected it at the last minute. The last expression of Hamon’s pro-Armenian position was his criticism about the desecration of the monument of French national hero Misak Manushyan.

It should be noted that it is not yet clear the position on these issues of another candidate Emmanuel Macron, who, according to polls, is one of the leaders of the presidential race in France. It is only known that there is a large number of pro-Armenian figures in his team, such as the Mayor of Lyon, Gerard Collon. Besides, Macron also wants to meet with the Armenian community.

In any case, it should be emphasized that the race for French presidency has just begun, and not all  candidates have so far clarified their positions concerning Armenian issues.