By Adonia Agayan

YEREVAN, January 25 — Bedros Sirinoglu, the head of Turkey’s Armenian community and the chairman of the board of trustees of Surb Prkich Hospital, criticized the passing of the bill criminalizing the denial of Armenian Genocide. According to him, France must firstly apologize for the French byword “bad Armenian.”

Sirinoglu noted that Turkey’s Armenian community expresses deep regret in regard to French Senate’s decision. “Once Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked me what I think about the events of 1915. And I answered that a split was caused between the two friendly nations and as a result both Armenians and Turks suffered. I wouldn’t choose the word “genocide” to describe those events; they were more a fight between two friends. I still stick to my opinion,” he said.

Bedros Sirinoglu also talked about how much the life of Armenians has improved in Turkey in the last ten years.

Yerevan Report