Saturday, 14 October 2006, 15:08 GMT 16:08 UK
A bronze statue commemorating the deaths of hundreds of thousands of
Armenians in Turkey has been stolen from the Paris suburb of
Chaville.
Police say the monument may have been taken to be sold as scrap
metal.
But some are connecting the theft to last Thursday’s vote by the
French parliament making it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered
“genocide”.
Armenia says Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million people systematically
in 1915 – a claim strongly denied by Turkey.
The 300kg (660lb) sculpture was cut off its pedestal in the suburb
of Chaville 13km (8 miles) from Paris some time between Friday
night and Saturday morning, local officials said.
But the site in front of Chaville’s train station had otherwise not
been vandalised and there was no graffiti.
Someone points to the inscription on the Armenian memorial in
Marseille
Marseille’s Armenian memorial is one of many in France
One motive may have been money with the monument, which was erected
in 2002, being taken to be melted down and sold on as scrap.
But Stephane Topalian, a member of the Armenian church council in
Chaville, said that was unlikely.
“Police say it might have been stolen for the metal, but it seems
too much of a coincidence that this should have happened just after
parliament voted the Armenia bill,” he told Reuters news agency.
Turkey condemned the French vote which would make it a crime to deny
that Armenians suffered “genocide” at the hands of the Ottoman
Turks.
Ankara, which said the move was a serious blow to relations,
threatened sanctions. The vote was also criticised by the EU.
The bill still needs to be approved by the Senate and the president
to become law.
France has a large Armenian community, with up to 500,000 people of
Armenian descent.
There are more than 30 memorials to Armenian victims across France.
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