THE ECONOMIST: TURKEY IS HARDLY IN POSITION TO PREACH ABOUT FREE SPEECH
PanARMENIAN.Net
December 29, 2011 - 11:33 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey is hardly in a position to preach about free
speech, says a report in The Economist.
Its own laws, in a mirror image of the French proposal, prohibit
descriptions of the 1915 killings as genocide. More than 100
journalists are in jail, many of them on flimsy charges of backing
terrorism, it says.
As for Mr Sarkozy's manoeuvres, many Armenians would say they are no
more cynical than Turkey's decision in 2009 to sign a set of protocols
establishing formal ties and reopening borders with Armenia just as the
United States Congress was gearing up to pass a genocide-recognition
bill. In the event Barack Obama convinced American lawmakers to desist,
the report says.
It also says that Turkey promptly shelved the protocols, reverting
to its old line linking reconciliation to resolution of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict.
On December 22, 2011, French National Assembly passed a bill
criminalizing public denial of the Armenian Genocide. If passed and
signed into law by the Senate, the bill would impose a 45,000 euro
fine and a year in prison for anyone in France who denies this crime
against humanity committed by the Ottoman Empire. Following the vote,
Ankara recalled its ambassador from France.
PanARMENIAN.Net
December 29, 2011 - 11:33 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey is hardly in a position to preach about free
speech, says a report in The Economist.
Its own laws, in a mirror image of the French proposal, prohibit
descriptions of the 1915 killings as genocide. More than 100
journalists are in jail, many of them on flimsy charges of backing
terrorism, it says.
As for Mr Sarkozy's manoeuvres, many Armenians would say they are no
more cynical than Turkey's decision in 2009 to sign a set of protocols
establishing formal ties and reopening borders with Armenia just as the
United States Congress was gearing up to pass a genocide-recognition
bill. In the event Barack Obama convinced American lawmakers to desist,
the report says.
It also says that Turkey promptly shelved the protocols, reverting
to its old line linking reconciliation to resolution of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict.
On December 22, 2011, French National Assembly passed a bill
criminalizing public denial of the Armenian Genocide. If passed and
signed into law by the Senate, the bill would impose a 45,000 euro
fine and a year in prison for anyone in France who denies this crime
against humanity committed by the Ottoman Empire. Following the vote,
Ankara recalled its ambassador from France.