Armenia is Europe's Canary: What the Famous French Journalist Means

“Armenia is our fragment in the East,” wrote French traveler, journalist, and writer Sylvain Tesson.

“What connects me to Armenia? These are intangible links of memory, thought, heart, and soul. What connects me to Azerbaijan? A gas pipeline. In the 19th century, there was always a canary with the miners in the coal mines to warn of imminent danger. When it stopped singing, it meant the bird had suffocated, and an explosion was imminent. Armenia is Europe’s canary. If it falls, old Europe, which has given the world democracy, freedom, its art, and science, will collapse,” he elaborated.

“Today, the Turks are guided by the principle of expansion. Turkey is overpopulated, its seams are bursting. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dreams of extending his borders eastward and westward. He dreams of restoring Turkey’s former territories and influence. Greece was freed from Turkish bondage only in the 1830s, and the fate that befell Armenia reveals hidden Anatolian-Caspian expansionism,” the journalist stated.