Armenians protest in Paris

ARMENIANS PROTEST AGAINST AZERBAIJANI ACTSAnswering to the call of the three Armenian traditional political parties (ARF, Ramgavar and Hunchak), with the support of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF), 1.000 Armenians gathered on the evening of Tuesday, 28 February 2006, in Paris, at a distance of hundred meters from the Embassy of Azerbaijan, to protest against the recent destruction of the Khachkars (stone-crosses) of the Armenian cemetery of Julfa (Nakhichevan) by the Azeri army.        


 


With the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower, several speakers of the Armenian organizations and representatives of French National Parliament condemned this latest wave of extermination of Armenian historical monuments.


 


The President of the CCAF, Alexis Govciyan, asked Azerbaijan to apologize for this internationally unaccepted act.


 


The European Parliament condemned on 17 February 2006 the destruction of the Armenian cemetery by 85 votes to 5. It plans to send an investigative mission to the archaeological site of Julfa next spring.


 


In Armenia, thousands of Armenians gathered at Yerevan's Republic Square on the same day (28 February 2006), to protest against the anti-Armenian policies of Azerbaijan. The participants adopted a statement addressed to the international community. Part of the statement says:


 


?We demand the fulfilment of the following conditions ?


 


1. Resumption of legal proceedings against the instigators and perpetrators of the Armenian pogroms in Sumgait (and industrial city on the Caspian Sea) and Baku in 1989 ?


 


2. Condemnation of the veneration of the Azeri murderer, who decapitated in Budapest a sleeping man only because he was an Armenian.


 


3. Immediate termination of the acts of vandalism, conducted by the regular army of Azerbaijan against the Armenian cemetery of Julfa ?


 


4. To call Azerbaijan to account for the aggressive propaganda of xenophobia, racism and violence against the Armenian people”.


 


Photo and additional information by Jean Eckian (Website: www.inhomage.com)


 


Website of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organisations of France:


http://www.ccaf.info/english.php


 


CCAF (Co-ordination Council of Armenian Organisations of France) is the representative body of the French-Armenian Community. It unites the major political, cultural, educational, religious and social organisations of the Armenian community.