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The Irish Times
December 23, 2011 Friday
Turkish anger rises as France takes first step to criminalise denial
of Armenian genocide
PARIS France took the first step yesterday to criminalising the denial
of genocide, including the 1915 mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks, prompting Ankara to recall its ambassador for consultations.
Tension has risen over the draft law put forward by members of
President Nicolas Sarkozy s ruling party, with Turkish prime minister
Tayyip Erdogan warning there would be grave political and economic
consequences if the Bill passed. Mr Erdogan said the draft law was
politics based on racism, discrimination, xenophobia .
This is using Turkophobia and Islamophobia to gain votes, and it
raises concerns regarding these issues not only in France but all
Europe, he told a news conference, adding that Turkey could not remain
silent in the face of this .
Turkish officials said its ambassador in Paris had been recalled for
consultations after members of France s National Assembly the lower
house of parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Bill. It
will now be debated next year in the Senate.
A French diplomatic source said Paris regretted the move and
considered fellow Nato member Turkey an important partner.
I don t understand why France wants to censor my freedom of
expression, Yildiz Hamza, president of the Montargis association that
represents 700 Turkish families in France, said outside the National
Assembly.
Earlier, about 3,000 French nationals of Turkish origin demonstrated
peacefully outside the parliament ahead of the vote, which came 32
years to the day since a Turkish diplomat was assassinated by Armenian
militants in central Paris.
The authorities in Yerevan welcomed the vote, Armenia s foreign
minister Edward Nalbandian saying: By adopting this Bill reconfirmed
that crimes against humanity do not have a period of prescription and
their denial must be absolutely condemned .
France passed a law recognising the killing of Armenians as genocide
in 2001. The French lower house first passed a Bill criminalising the
denial of an Armenian genocide in 2006, but it was rejected by the
Senate in May this year.
The latest draft law was made more general to outlaw the denial of any
genocide, partly in the hope of appeasing the Turks.
It could still face a long passage into law, though its backers want
to see it completed before parliament is suspended at the end of
February ahead of elections in the second quarter.
National Assembly speaker Bernard Accoyer said on Wednesday he doubted
the Bill would pass by the end of the current parliament, as the
government had not made the Bill priority legislation.
Armenia, backed by many historians and parliaments, says about 1.5
million Christian Armenians were killed in what is now eastern Turkey
during the first World War in a deliberate policy of genocide ordered
by the Ottoman government.
Successive Turkish governments and the vast majority of Turks feel the
charge of genocide is an insult to their nation. Ankara argues that
there was heavy loss of life on both sides during fighting in the
area.
The French government has stressed it did not initiate the Bill, which
mandates a EUR 45,000 fine and a year in jail for offenders, and says
Turkey cannot impose unilateral trade sanctions.
Faced with Sarkozy s open hostility to Turkey s stagnant bid to join
the European Union, and buoyed by a fast-growing economy, Ankara has
little to lose by picking a political fight with Paris.
With Turkey taking an increasingly influential role in the Arab world
and Middle East, especially Syria, Iran and Libya, France could
experience some diplomatic discomfort, and French firms could lose out
on lucrative Turkish contracts.
France is Turkey s fifth-biggest export market and the sixth biggest
source of its imports.
December 23, 2011 Friday
Turkish anger rises as France takes first step to criminalise denial
of Armenian genocide
PARIS France took the first step yesterday to criminalising the denial
of genocide, including the 1915 mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks, prompting Ankara to recall its ambassador for consultations.
Tension has risen over the draft law put forward by members of
President Nicolas Sarkozy s ruling party, with Turkish prime minister
Tayyip Erdogan warning there would be grave political and economic
consequences if the Bill passed. Mr Erdogan said the draft law was
politics based on racism, discrimination, xenophobia .
This is using Turkophobia and Islamophobia to gain votes, and it
raises concerns regarding these issues not only in France but all
Europe, he told a news conference, adding that Turkey could not remain
silent in the face of this .
Turkish officials said its ambassador in Paris had been recalled for
consultations after members of France s National Assembly the lower
house of parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Bill. It
will now be debated next year in the Senate.
A French diplomatic source said Paris regretted the move and
considered fellow Nato member Turkey an important partner.
I don t understand why France wants to censor my freedom of
expression, Yildiz Hamza, president of the Montargis association that
represents 700 Turkish families in France, said outside the National
Assembly.
Earlier, about 3,000 French nationals of Turkish origin demonstrated
peacefully outside the parliament ahead of the vote, which came 32
years to the day since a Turkish diplomat was assassinated by Armenian
militants in central Paris.
The authorities in Yerevan welcomed the vote, Armenia s foreign
minister Edward Nalbandian saying: By adopting this Bill reconfirmed
that crimes against humanity do not have a period of prescription and
their denial must be absolutely condemned .
France passed a law recognising the killing of Armenians as genocide
in 2001. The French lower house first passed a Bill criminalising the
denial of an Armenian genocide in 2006, but it was rejected by the
Senate in May this year.
The latest draft law was made more general to outlaw the denial of any
genocide, partly in the hope of appeasing the Turks.
It could still face a long passage into law, though its backers want
to see it completed before parliament is suspended at the end of
February ahead of elections in the second quarter.
National Assembly speaker Bernard Accoyer said on Wednesday he doubted
the Bill would pass by the end of the current parliament, as the
government had not made the Bill priority legislation.
Armenia, backed by many historians and parliaments, says about 1.5
million Christian Armenians were killed in what is now eastern Turkey
during the first World War in a deliberate policy of genocide ordered
by the Ottoman government.
Successive Turkish governments and the vast majority of Turks feel the
charge of genocide is an insult to their nation. Ankara argues that
there was heavy loss of life on both sides during fighting in the
area.
The French government has stressed it did not initiate the Bill, which
mandates a EUR 45,000 fine and a year in jail for offenders, and says
Turkey cannot impose unilateral trade sanctions.
Faced with Sarkozy s open hostility to Turkey s stagnant bid to join
the European Union, and buoyed by a fast-growing economy, Ankara has
little to lose by picking a political fight with Paris.
With Turkey taking an increasingly influential role in the Arab world
and Middle East, especially Syria, Iran and Libya, France could
experience some diplomatic discomfort, and French firms could lose out
on lucrative Turkish contracts.
France is Turkey s fifth-biggest export market and the sixth biggest
source of its imports.