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Yesterday, in one of the halls of the National Assembly of France a conference titled “25 years after the Sumgait events: present situation and future prospects for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh” was held.

“We regret this incident and condiment that act that took place on 26 February at the National Assembly. France believes that the only possible way to long-term settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is through dialogue and once again confirms its obligation as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group to this end in front of Armenia and Azerbaijan,” according to “AFP”, said the spokesman for the French Foreign Minister Philippe Lalliot.

Yesterday, in one of the halls of the National Assembly of France a conference titled “25 years after the Sumgait events: present situation and future prospects for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh” was held. The conference was marred by the Azerbaijani provocation.

At the end, the attendees stood to honor the memory of the victims killed during Sumgait pogroms and kept a minute's silence. Two Azerbaijani provocateurs, a girl and a young man, refused to stand up and to honor the Armenian victims in Azerbaijan and started to shout anti-Armenian slogans. On the photos, published in “Nouvelles d'Armenie”, it is obvious how the Azerbaijani tries to provoke a fight and attacks the audience. Azeri press disseminated false information about beating and causing serious injuries, right up to fracturing, to provocateurs. In the photos, published in the same Azerbaijani media, it is clearly visible that there is no serious damage caused to both. Moreover, participants of the provocation give contradicting evidence about the incident: at first they say the girl was beaten together with the guy, then they say she managed to leave the room.

French Parliament Member Valérie Boyer made a statement on the incident that took place on the eve of February 27, the incident that took place in one of the halls of the National Assembly of the country. The MP addressed to French President Francois Hollande and call on taking up relevant diplomatic actions to eradicate any propaganda campaign on denying on ethnic grounds.

Here is the full statement made by Valérie Boyer:

“Carrying out propaganda of denial and multiplying acts of anti-Armenian provocations, in particular, supporting criminals accused of implementing violence against the Armenians (Safarov’s case) Aliev regime encourages the incidents similar to that recorded during Feb 25 event commemorating the 25th anniversary of Sumgait pogroms of 28-29 February 1988. This was an event during which we paid tribute to memory of victims, and it became a scene of one more Azerbaijani provocation, proving once again that Baku's intentions have nothing to do with Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.”

A year ago I visited the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) in order to get acquainted with that ancient Armenian land, which for many years has been the victim of a forgotten ethnic confrontation. The current Socialist government is completely indifferent to this conflict. Moreover, in 2012, President Hollande received Aliyev with a broad smile on his face.

Our country must raise this issue in order to protect the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide that took place in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 we should put an end to persecution against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh because of their origin.

I address to French President Francois Hollande with a call to take relevant diplomatic steps to end any denial of propaganda on French land. I address to Claude Bartolone with a call to include on National Assembly's agenda my bill the purpose of which is to introduce into the domestic law of the Framework Decision of 28 November 2008 on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law and which criminalizes the denial of the Armenian Genocide. Oil can not buy neither the memory nor the human rights.”