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China: French parliament passes bill on Armenian genocide

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  • China: French parliament passes bill on Armenian genocide

    People's Daily, China
    Oct 13 2006

    French parliament passes bill on Armenian genocide



    The French lower house of parliament on Thursday adopted a bill that
    would make it a crime to deny that the World War I massacre of
    Armenians by Ottoman Turks was genocide.

    According to the legislation that was carried by 106 votes to 19,
    anyone denying the genocide would be sentenced to one year in prison
    and ordered to pay a 45,000-euro (56,570 U.S. dollars) fine.

    To become law, the bill still needs the approval of both the upper
    house Senate and the French president.

    But Turkey has warned that the bill would damage ties between the two
    countries, and threatened economic revenge against France if the bill
    become law.

    "If this draft law is approved, Turkey will lose nothing but France
    will ... lose Turkey," Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said in
    televised comments late on Wednesday.

    Ankara denied it was to blame for the genocide of around 1.5 million
    Armenians during the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in World
    War I, arguing that it was part of general fighting in which both
    sides suffered.

    Although the French government considered that it was up to
    historians not parliament to judge the past, the ruling Union for a
    Popular Movement (UMP) gave its lawmakers a free hand in the vote,
    which ensured the passing of the bill.

    Later in the day, the European Commission criticized the bill, saying
    it could harm reconciliation efforts.
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