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“Islamic terrorism” connected with Armenian Genocide: Czech President

Today’s growing level of international crime is connected with the genocide of Armenians, President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman has said.

“The level of international crime is growing because of Islamic terrorism. I am open and frank, and I do not use the phrase “Islamic terrorism” lightly but, in the overwhelming majority of cases, it has Islamic origin. It is connected with genocide of Armenians,” Mr. Zeman said at a Q&A session following his address to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

“I was heavily criticized when I declared the same thing as France did, for instance, but as the Assembly knows, the French Parliament even adopted a law about that genocide. On the other side, I have been criticized for having a good economic relationship with Azerbaijan. I am probably Jekyll and Hyde, but nobody knows who is Jekyll and who is Hyde,” Miloš Zeman said.

The President made the statement in response to a question from Armenian lawmaker Arpine Hovhannisyan.  She acknowledged Mr. Zeman’s personal input in raising awareness of the Armenian genocide and asked about plans to  include crimes against humanity as a topic within school curricula.

Asked what the Council of Europe can do to support the integration of this topic in the curricula of member States, the Czech President stated “we should invest in the police and the army, and have the courage to invest in our own guns.”

“My wife has a pistol. Of course she passed all necessary tests, but now I am guarded by my wife, and not only by bodyguards. The second amendment to the American constitution says that everybody has the right to have a weapon – of course they must fulfill the necessary conditions and tests. We Europeans are a little more careful than the Americans, but after Barcelona and many assassinations, I think that the difference between Europeans and Americans is not so great,” Mr. Zeman stated.

The Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic  approved a resolution on April 26, 2017, condemning the genocide of Armenians and other religious and national minorities in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.

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