Tweet
FRANCE GENOCIDE BILL SPONSOR RECEIVES DEATH THREATS
asbarez
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
French Parliament member Valerie Boyard casts her vote for the bill
criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Gencoide
PARIS-"All Frenchmen of Armenian descent, who live in France have
the right, to protect the memory of their ancestors slaughtered in
1915," Valerie Boyer, the French member of parliament who drafted
the bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide, said on
her Facebook page.
"This law aims to punish all those, who will question the fact of
Genocide in French territory," she explained.
"The Armenian genocide is recognized in Russia, Canada, Argentina,
Italy, Sweden and even in Germany. Its denial is penalized in
Switzerland. Yet, none of these states is being threatened in its
diplomatic relations or business by Turkey," Boyer wrote.
Meanwhile, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Monday that Boyer
has become a target of death threats and her Web site was hacked
by Turks.
According to RFE/RL, Boyer told the BFMTV station that she, her
children and parents have received "extremely grave" threats since
then. "It's totally paradoxical to be the author and the rapporteur
of a text which speaks of human rights, human dignity, recognition
and protection of the weak, and legislate under threat, be threatened
by a foreign state and then be subjected to extremely grave personal
threats," she said.
"Death threats, threats of rape and threats of destruction,
name-calling and insults. I find this very shocking."
Boyer added that she will lodge a "complaint" with relevant French
authorities but is undaunted by the threats. "This process can only
strengthen us in both our beliefs and our resolve," she said.
An adviser to French Interior Minister Claude Gueant told "Le Figaro"
daily on Monday that the lawmaker and her family will be given a
"discreet and effective protection for some time." "The risk is not
very high but we are not immune to a disequilibrium," the official
said.
Boyer, who is also the deputy head of French parliamentary caucus
promoting ties with Armenia, spoke to the French news channel following
a hacker attack on her website.
Visitors to www.valerie-boyer.fr were automatically redirected on
Sunday to another website purportedly owned by a Turkish hacker group
presenting itself as GrayHatz. It displayed the Turkish national
flag and contained a message to the French government and France's
500,000-strong Armenian community.
"You, the Diaspora Armenians, are such cowards that you don't have
guts to open up the Armenian archives and face the truth," read the
message posted in Turkish and English. "You, the French people, are so
pitiful and pathetic that you are disregarding the truths for votes."
The latter accusation was in tune with the Turkish government's claims
that Sarkozy engineered the bill's passage to gain the support of
French-Armenian voters in next year's presidential election. Ankara
has also denounced the legislation as an infringement of freedom of
speech and academic debate.
"Freedom of speech and state propaganda are very different things,"
Boyer told the French lower house last Thursday in a clear reference
to Turkey's vehement denial of a government policy to annihilate the
Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during World War One.
Boyer's website was still disabled as of Monday evening, displaying
a blank page. The UMP deputy's Facebook page had scores of abusive
comments from apparently Turkish users and messages of support from
Armenians posted in recent days.
Under the adopted legislation, anyone in France publicly denying the
Armenian genocide could face a year in jail and a fine of 45,000
euros ($58,000). In order to enter into force the law needs to be
approved by the French Senate dominated by members of the opposition
Socialist Party.
The Paris-based Armenews.com news service reported on Monday that
the Senate majority leader, Francois Rebsamen, has demanded that the
government include it on the Senate agenda "as soon as possible."
"Even if this text carries electoral suspicions, nothing would be
worse today than to bury it, thereby creating misunderstanding and
disappointment of the Armenian community, having raised the indignation
and anger of the Turkish community," Rebsamen said in a statement.
Turkey recalled its ambassador in Paris and imposed political and
military sanctions on France following the National Assembly vote.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to take more punitive steps
if "the current [French] attitude is maintained."
Turkish ambassadors from all over the world reportedly gathered in
Ankara on Saturday to discuss ways of preventing more countries from
taking similar measures ahead of the 100th anniversary of the start
of the Armenian massacres in 1915.
"We should all be prepared also because we will face an intensive
campaign from the Armenian diaspora in 2015," the AFP news agency
quoted an unnamed senior Turkish diplomat as saying on Friday. "And
we should take history not from 1915 but from 1914 and explain what
happened in the Balkans during that period," said the diplomat.
While criticizing the French bill, some Turkish commentators have
urged the authorities in Ankara to address the genocide issue more
openly. "We have avoided any talk on 1915 for decades," Mehmet Tezkan
wrote in the "Milliyet" daily.
"One must be blind not to see what will happen four years later,"
Tezkan said, according to AFP. "The genocide will be recognized by
the entire world in 2015 on its 100th anniversary."
Meanwhile, the leader of the Socialist majority in the French Senate
reportedly demanded that President Nicolas Sarkozy's government submit
the bill to the upper house of parliament "as soon as possible."
asbarez
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
French Parliament member Valerie Boyard casts her vote for the bill
criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Gencoide
PARIS-"All Frenchmen of Armenian descent, who live in France have
the right, to protect the memory of their ancestors slaughtered in
1915," Valerie Boyer, the French member of parliament who drafted
the bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide, said on
her Facebook page.
"This law aims to punish all those, who will question the fact of
Genocide in French territory," she explained.
"The Armenian genocide is recognized in Russia, Canada, Argentina,
Italy, Sweden and even in Germany. Its denial is penalized in
Switzerland. Yet, none of these states is being threatened in its
diplomatic relations or business by Turkey," Boyer wrote.
Meanwhile, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Monday that Boyer
has become a target of death threats and her Web site was hacked
by Turks.
According to RFE/RL, Boyer told the BFMTV station that she, her
children and parents have received "extremely grave" threats since
then. "It's totally paradoxical to be the author and the rapporteur
of a text which speaks of human rights, human dignity, recognition
and protection of the weak, and legislate under threat, be threatened
by a foreign state and then be subjected to extremely grave personal
threats," she said.
"Death threats, threats of rape and threats of destruction,
name-calling and insults. I find this very shocking."
Boyer added that she will lodge a "complaint" with relevant French
authorities but is undaunted by the threats. "This process can only
strengthen us in both our beliefs and our resolve," she said.
An adviser to French Interior Minister Claude Gueant told "Le Figaro"
daily on Monday that the lawmaker and her family will be given a
"discreet and effective protection for some time." "The risk is not
very high but we are not immune to a disequilibrium," the official
said.
Boyer, who is also the deputy head of French parliamentary caucus
promoting ties with Armenia, spoke to the French news channel following
a hacker attack on her website.
Visitors to www.valerie-boyer.fr were automatically redirected on
Sunday to another website purportedly owned by a Turkish hacker group
presenting itself as GrayHatz. It displayed the Turkish national
flag and contained a message to the French government and France's
500,000-strong Armenian community.
"You, the Diaspora Armenians, are such cowards that you don't have
guts to open up the Armenian archives and face the truth," read the
message posted in Turkish and English. "You, the French people, are so
pitiful and pathetic that you are disregarding the truths for votes."
The latter accusation was in tune with the Turkish government's claims
that Sarkozy engineered the bill's passage to gain the support of
French-Armenian voters in next year's presidential election. Ankara
has also denounced the legislation as an infringement of freedom of
speech and academic debate.
"Freedom of speech and state propaganda are very different things,"
Boyer told the French lower house last Thursday in a clear reference
to Turkey's vehement denial of a government policy to annihilate the
Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during World War One.
Boyer's website was still disabled as of Monday evening, displaying
a blank page. The UMP deputy's Facebook page had scores of abusive
comments from apparently Turkish users and messages of support from
Armenians posted in recent days.
Under the adopted legislation, anyone in France publicly denying the
Armenian genocide could face a year in jail and a fine of 45,000
euros ($58,000). In order to enter into force the law needs to be
approved by the French Senate dominated by members of the opposition
Socialist Party.
The Paris-based Armenews.com news service reported on Monday that
the Senate majority leader, Francois Rebsamen, has demanded that the
government include it on the Senate agenda "as soon as possible."
"Even if this text carries electoral suspicions, nothing would be
worse today than to bury it, thereby creating misunderstanding and
disappointment of the Armenian community, having raised the indignation
and anger of the Turkish community," Rebsamen said in a statement.
Turkey recalled its ambassador in Paris and imposed political and
military sanctions on France following the National Assembly vote.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to take more punitive steps
if "the current [French] attitude is maintained."
Turkish ambassadors from all over the world reportedly gathered in
Ankara on Saturday to discuss ways of preventing more countries from
taking similar measures ahead of the 100th anniversary of the start
of the Armenian massacres in 1915.
"We should all be prepared also because we will face an intensive
campaign from the Armenian diaspora in 2015," the AFP news agency
quoted an unnamed senior Turkish diplomat as saying on Friday. "And
we should take history not from 1915 but from 1914 and explain what
happened in the Balkans during that period," said the diplomat.
While criticizing the French bill, some Turkish commentators have
urged the authorities in Ankara to address the genocide issue more
openly. "We have avoided any talk on 1915 for decades," Mehmet Tezkan
wrote in the "Milliyet" daily.
"One must be blind not to see what will happen four years later,"
Tezkan said, according to AFP. "The genocide will be recognized by
the entire world in 2015 on its 100th anniversary."
Meanwhile, the leader of the Socialist majority in the French Senate
reportedly demanded that President Nicolas Sarkozy's government submit
the bill to the upper house of parliament "as soon as possible."