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Azerbaijan Denounces France Vote On Armenia 'Genocide'

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  • Azerbaijan Denounces France Vote On Armenia 'Genocide'

    AZERBAIJAN DENOUNCES FRANCE VOTE ON ARMENIA 'GENOCIDE'

    Emirates 24/7
    http://www.emirates247.com/news/world/azerbaijan-denounces-france-vote-on-armenia-genocide-2012-01-31-1.440492
    Jan 31 2012
    UAE

    By AFP Published Tuesday, January 31, 2012

    Turkey's ally Azerbaijan denounced as anti-democratic the French
    Senate's approval of a bill making it illegal to deny that the mass
    killings of Armenians during World War I were genocide.

    "The Republic of Azerbaijan deplores the law adopted by the French
    Senate to criminalise the denial of the 'Armenian genocide' and
    expresses strong protest over this," the foreign ministry in Baku
    said in a statement.

    The move was "against the principles of democracy, human rights,
    freedom of speech and expression", it said.

    An official from the governing party said it had also undermined
    France's credibility as one of the members of the OSCE's Minsk Group,
    which is trying to help negotiate a solution to Azerbaijan's conflict
    with enemy Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorny Karabakh.

    "France's known actions have negated the remaining confidence in
    this group," said governing party executive secretary Ali Akhmedov,
    the Interfax news agency reported.

    "In such a situation, the most honourable route would be if France
    removed itself from mediation as it has lost the moral right to
    fulfill this mission," he said.

    Years of OSCE-mediated talks have so far failed to deliver a final
    peace deal in the conflict over Nagorny Karabakh, which was seized
    from Azerbaijan by Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan during a
    war in the 1990s.

    Turkic-speaking, mainly Muslim Azerbaijan has the backing of Turkey
    in the conflict and has threatened to use force to reassert control
    if talks do not deliver results.

    Like Ankara, Baku rejects the Armenian genocide allegations as false.

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