Your trusted source

France will officially ban today the ultranationalist Turkish group 'Grey Wolves', the Ambassador of France to Armenia Jonathan Lacôte has told Armenian Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan. As the Ombudsman wrote on Facebook, during the meeting with the French Ambassador, he presented evidence about the atrocities and cruel treatment of the Azerbaijani armed forces against civilians, including the use of prohibited cluster and weapons containing chemical elements against civilians, the use of firearms and the massive destruction of civilian infrastructure.

"I expressed my condolences to the French people on the terrorist attack on the Notre Dame Cathedral in Nice and expressed concern to the Ambassador in connection with the recent actions in France based on hatred against ethnic Armenians, emphasizing the protection of the security and rights of Armenians," Tatoyan said.

The French Ambassador to Armenia, in turn, strongly condemned the cases of vandalism and attacks against French citizens of Armenian origin and Armenian citizens and informed the Defender that the French Council of Ministers had decided to ban the Turkish nationalist 'Grey Wolves' (“Bozkurt”) organization in France, because of the latter’s carrying out of ultra-nationalist activities, and, during the past week, of attacking and inciting hatred against Armenians.

The Armenian Ombudsman recalled the fact that during the April 2016 War, as well as now, the torture, atrocities and cruel treatment are carried out by the members of the Turkish nationalist 'Grey Wolves' group in the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

To remind, France's decision came after the Armenian Genocide memorial centre outside Lyon was defaced with pro-Turkish slogans including 'Grey Wolves' and 'RTE' in reference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.