by David Zenian
Paris — Patrick Devedjian’s name often makes the front pages of French newspapers, but not because he is the only Armenian Mayor of a French town and member of the French Parliament.
An active member of the Gaullist RPR Party, Devedjian could well be on his way to a top government appointment — possibly that of Minister of Justice — if in the upcoming elections Edouard Balladur succeeds in winning the Office of President.
The son of an Armenian immigrant engineer who moved to Paris from Turkey in 1919, Devedjian is one of the best examples of first generation French-born Armenians who are giving a new meaning to “integration.”
Some early immigrants used “integration” as a weapon against forms of discrimination. Others cloistered themselves within their ethnic groups for comfort.
But that was decades ago. Today, young professionals like Devedjian and many in his age group see no “conflict of interest” between their “two heritages”.
Devedjian got involved in French politics at the age of 18 as a student activist, went to law school and also studied political science. He joined the RPR party in 1971 and started climbing the political ladder.
A successful lawyer, Devedjian ran for Mayor in the small town of Antony. Election fraud almost cost him a closely-contested campaign, but Devedjian took his communist opponent to court and won to become Mayor in 1983.
His victory did not depend on an Armenian vote because “there are no other Armenians in Antony.”
Already a savvy and seasoned politician, Devedjian ran for parliament in 1986, and won again. Today he is the only Armenian in the French Parliament.
But how did a high-profile politician and civil servant get involved in controversial cases like defending professed members of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia at a time when ASALA was branded as “a terrorist organization.”
Devedjian’s answer reflects no hesitation.
“The people I defended in court were not terrorists. They were resistance fighters ... Armenian resistance fighters,” Devedjian said.
One of those he successfully defended was the late Monte Melkonian, who was detained in Paris in 1982 on charges of traveling with a false passport and involvement in an attack against the Turkish Embassy in Rome.
Devedjian won the case, and Melkonian was deported instead of serving jail time in France.
Devedjian later represented five other Armenians arrested in Paris on charges of carrying out terrorist acts in California or attacks on the Turkish consulate in the French capital.
“I took on these cases out of conviction because I believe there is a major difference between resistance and terrorism. The Armenians I defended were not terrorists ... they were resistance fighters,” Devedjian said in a recent interview.
Did he take on the ASALA cases because he was a lawyer, or because he was an Armenian lawyer.
Devedjian smiles.
“I am a French-Armenian. I do not mix my personal and public lives. Devedjian the Mayor and Member of Parliament is my political career, my business. What I do as an Armenian falls in a different domain involving my roots ... a very personal commitment,” he explains.
It was this clear separation of roles and understanding of his French and Armenian heritage that prevented Devedjian from defending the alleged ASALA “terrorists” involved in the bloody attack at Orly Airport in July 1983.
“I just could not have taken on the Orly case. The target of the attack was French and so were the victims. As a French Armenian, I saw the Orly attack as an act of terrorism against France, and I do not defend terrorists,” he said.
