French deputy Jacques Toubon raised the "unquestionable reality" of the Armenian Genocide during the 53rd reunion of the EU-Turkey inter-parliamentary delegation, of which he is the vice-president. During his talk, Mr Toubon indicated to his Turkish counterparts that the recognition of this genocide constituted an "important element for Europe" and of its "common values". In particular he highlighted that the European Parliament, since 1987, had on numerous occasions recognised the reality of
the Genocide and since then, continually asked Turkey to do the same. He explained that "by refusing to ratify the Treaty of Sevres of 1920, Turkey did not want to recognize this genocide" which could be explained in the political context of that time, but "90 years later, Turkey must change" and adopt European values while recognizing this historic reality, Jacques
Toubon noted. His statements provoked the rage of the Turkish officials participating in the meeting.