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50th anniversary of French-German reconciliation marked in Baku

25 January 2013 10:03 (UTC+04:00)
50th anniversary of  French-German reconciliation marked in Baku

By Sara Rajabova

Embassies of France and Germany in Azerbaijan organized a series of cultural events on the occasion of 50th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty signed by the French President Charles de Gaulle and the German Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1963.

Within the framework of the cultural events a conference on French-German reconciliation was held at the Diplomatic Academy of Azerbaijan on Tuesday.

Rector of the Diplomatic Academy, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Hafiz Pashayev made opening remarks to the gathering, noting the importance of the reconciliation between France and Germany. He highlighted the role of the young people and youth organizations in maintaining the French-German reconciliation.

As a symbol of the mutual respect and confidence the ambassadors of Germany Herbert Quelle and France Pascal Meunier delivered their speeches in each other's languages -- German ambassador in French and French ambassador in German respectively.

German ambassador Quelle noted the role of French President Gaulle and the German Federal Chancellor Adenauer in signing of Elysee Treaty and in reconciliation and cooperation that replaced centuries old-rivalry.

He also said the famous declaration of 1950 by Robert Schuman and the treaties of Rome all date before the Elysee Treaty can be seen as a groundwork for it. "The Elysee Treaty then has set the scene not only for an unprecedented bilateral cooperation between Germany and France, but for the European Communities becoming the European Union."

He said the Elysee Treaty helped Germany to reset its relationship also with other countries.

"Fifty years after the Elysee Treaty we mark with gratitude the foresightfulness of great statesman. We feel encouraged by their example to further strengthen our joint efforts for overcoming the debt crisis in the Eurozone - and we will succeed!" Quelle noted.

For his part, French ambassador Menieur spoke about the history of the French-German relations.

He said Elysee Treaty also boosted the politics of reconciliation between peoples.

"Not even 20 years after the war it created the Franco-German Office for Youth and encouraged the twinning of cities, schools and regions. This cooperation has endured; remarkable cultural initiatives ensued, including the creation of the French-German television channel Arte and the establishment of a common literary prize, the Genshagen Foundations Award in 2010," Menieur noted.

After the speeches by the ambassadors a short film was shown about from the signature ceremony of the Elysee Treaty.

Afterwards, French expert on international relations Filipp Moreau Defarges spoke about the importance of the Elysee Treaty and mentioned several reasons of the realization of this treaty.

He said the reconciliation between France and Germany was possible, because after the two world wars these countries lost their right to wage war. Especially, after the Second World War it was unacceptable to give an opportunity to the new war.

Another point, after the Second World War the political view of Europe changed radically and the governments transformed. Defarges said Germany was transformed by its defeat, nationalist Germany died and new Germany appeared.

Besides, French and Germany had to cooperate as they faced with the new enemy - the Soviet Union.

Also, the United States played an important role in the reconciliation and was promoter of the friendly relationship between France and Germany.

The ambassadors and the expert also commented on questions about the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The French expert said that if the countries want reconciliation they should be ready to compromise in order to achieve the positive results. As an example, he mentioned the French-German reconciliation.

The German ambassador Quelle said it is important to start the process of dialogue between the two countries. He said that the Parliament and the public organizations realize the activities in this regard. He said such activities play an important role in reaching reconciliation between the sides, after the war ends.

The French ambassador noted the importance of economic integration for reaching and maintaining the reconciliation.

France as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group will continue to make every effort to resolve the conflict, he added.

Within the cultural events on the occasion of 50th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty a concert was organized in the performance of Azerbaijani musicians Salman Gambarov and Farida Mammadova with French-German repertoire in the Azerbaijani-German center of culture Kapellhaus in Azerbaijan's capital Baku on Wednesday.

Besides, a documentary film "Pina" about the famous German choreographer Pina Bausch was shown in Kapellhaus on Thursday.

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