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Irish Examiner
December 23, 2011 Friday
French pass Armenian genocide law
State TV in Turkey, which had promised retaliation if the bill passed,
said the country's ambassador, Tahsin Burcuoglu, to France would be
withdrawn.
There was no official vote count in the ballot in France's lower
house, with passage determined by a simple show of hands. The measure
must still be passed in the senate, where its fate is less clear.
The measure put France on a collision course with Turkey, a strategic
ally and trading partner.
Turkey vehemently rejects the term "genocide" for the First World
War-era mass killings of Armenians, saying the issue should be left to
historians. It contends that France is trampling freedom of expression
and that President Nicolas Sarkozy Enhanced Coverage LinkingNicolas
Sarkozy -Search using:Biographies Plus NewsNews, Most Recent 60
Daysis on a vote-getting mission ahead of April presidential
elections.
An estimated 500,000 Armenians live in France and many have pressed to
raise the legal statute regarding the massacres to the same level as
the Holocaust by punishing denial of genocide.
France formally recognised the killings as genocide in 2001, but
provided no penalty for anyone denying that. The bill sets a
punishment of up to one year in prison and a fine of EUR 45,000 for
those who deny or "outrageously minimise" the killings by Ottoman
Turks, putting such action on a par with denial of the Holocaust.
"Our ancestors can finally rest in peace," said 75-year-old Maurice
Delighazarian, who added that his grandparents on both sides were
among the victims of the 1915 massacre.
Lawmakers denounced what they called Turkey's propaganda effort in a
bid to sway them.
"Laws voted in this chamber cannot be dictated by Ankara," said
Jean-Christophe Lagarde, a deputy from the New Centre party, as Turks
demonstrated outside the National Assembly ahead of the vote.
The bill's author said she was "shocked" at the attempt to interfere
with the parliament's work.
"My bill doesn't aim at any particular country," said Valerie Boyer, a
deputy from the ruling conservative UMP party. "It is inspired by
European law, which says that the people who deny the existence of the
genocides must be sanctioned."
An initial bid to punish denial of the Armenian genocide failed
earlier this year, killed by the senate five years after it was passed
by the lower house.
French authorities have stressed the importance of bilateral ties with
Turkey and the key role it plays in sensitive strategic issues as a
member of NATO, in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
However, Sarkozy has long opposed the entry into the EU of mostly Muslim Turkey.
Turkish authorities have weighed in with caustic remarks about
France's past. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has recalled
France's colonial history in Algeria and a 1945 massacre there, as
well as its role in Rwanda, where some have claimed a French role in
the 1994 genocide.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
December 23, 2011 Friday
French pass Armenian genocide law
State TV in Turkey, which had promised retaliation if the bill passed,
said the country's ambassador, Tahsin Burcuoglu, to France would be
withdrawn.
There was no official vote count in the ballot in France's lower
house, with passage determined by a simple show of hands. The measure
must still be passed in the senate, where its fate is less clear.
The measure put France on a collision course with Turkey, a strategic
ally and trading partner.
Turkey vehemently rejects the term "genocide" for the First World
War-era mass killings of Armenians, saying the issue should be left to
historians. It contends that France is trampling freedom of expression
and that President Nicolas Sarkozy Enhanced Coverage LinkingNicolas
Sarkozy -Search using:Biographies Plus NewsNews, Most Recent 60
Daysis on a vote-getting mission ahead of April presidential
elections.
An estimated 500,000 Armenians live in France and many have pressed to
raise the legal statute regarding the massacres to the same level as
the Holocaust by punishing denial of genocide.
France formally recognised the killings as genocide in 2001, but
provided no penalty for anyone denying that. The bill sets a
punishment of up to one year in prison and a fine of EUR 45,000 for
those who deny or "outrageously minimise" the killings by Ottoman
Turks, putting such action on a par with denial of the Holocaust.
"Our ancestors can finally rest in peace," said 75-year-old Maurice
Delighazarian, who added that his grandparents on both sides were
among the victims of the 1915 massacre.
Lawmakers denounced what they called Turkey's propaganda effort in a
bid to sway them.
"Laws voted in this chamber cannot be dictated by Ankara," said
Jean-Christophe Lagarde, a deputy from the New Centre party, as Turks
demonstrated outside the National Assembly ahead of the vote.
The bill's author said she was "shocked" at the attempt to interfere
with the parliament's work.
"My bill doesn't aim at any particular country," said Valerie Boyer, a
deputy from the ruling conservative UMP party. "It is inspired by
European law, which says that the people who deny the existence of the
genocides must be sanctioned."
An initial bid to punish denial of the Armenian genocide failed
earlier this year, killed by the senate five years after it was passed
by the lower house.
French authorities have stressed the importance of bilateral ties with
Turkey and the key role it plays in sensitive strategic issues as a
member of NATO, in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
However, Sarkozy has long opposed the entry into the EU of mostly Muslim Turkey.
Turkish authorities have weighed in with caustic remarks about
France's past. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has recalled
France's colonial history in Algeria and a 1945 massacre there, as
well as its role in Rwanda, where some have claimed a French role in
the 1994 genocide.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress