French ambassador: I hope Europe will emerge more united after Paris terrorist attacks
French ambassador in Sofia Xavier Lapeyre De Cabanes said that he hoped that Europe would emerge with greater solidarity and unity after the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris.
Speaking to local media on November 13, the French ambassador to Bulgaria said that this was not the second attack in Paris this year, but the fourth.
After the fatal assault on Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in the French capital in January, there was an attempted attack on a train between Lille and Paris, which thanks to US soldier was foiled, and in Paris, a terrorist killed a woman during an attempted attack.
He said that there were many possible explanations for the attacks, perhaps because France was very committed in the fight against the “Islamic State” terrorist group, ambassador Lapeyre De Cabanes said.
Media reports after the Paris attacks, in which at least 120 people died in gun and bomb attacks at six sites in the French capital, said that the “Islamic State” terrorist group had claimed responsibility.
“We want to live in French countries and therefore should take the risks of freedom,” the French ambassador said.
Lapeyre De Cabanes said that France had very good co-operation with the Bulgarian authorities. He pointed out that Bulgaria had arrested and helped apprehend people who wanted to return to Europe to commit terrorism.
He said that he had been very impressed in January by the commitment of Bulgarians to his country, “which shows that we are not alone”.
“After these attacks in January our response was to unite and to react against the ‘Islamic State’ and since then, France has not ceased to engage with Syria and Iraq…we decided to conduct bombing strikes when we had information about camps where they trained terrorists, and I think that our policy will not change,” the French ambassador said.
- On Facebook, an event entitled #JeSuisParisien has been organised for November 14 at 7pm, for people to lay flowers outside the French embassy in Oborishte Street, Sofia, in sympathy with the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris and in solidarity with the people of France.
(Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
