MP JANJANIAN THANKS FRENCH ENVOY OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LAW
The Daily Star
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Feb-02/161941-mp-janjian-thanks-french-envoy-over-armenian-genocide-law.ashx#axzz1lCcTZo9u
Feb 2 2012
Lebanon
BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces MP Shant Janjanian, a Lebanese-Armenian,
delivered a thank-you letter to French envoy to Lebanon Denis Pietton
Thursday for France's support of a bill banning the denial of the
Armenian genocide.
The French Senate approved a law last month to punish anyone with
jail time who denies that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman
Turk Forces amounted to genocide.
A left-wing group of senators said last week they had gathered 76
signatures from senators opposed to the law, more than the minimum
60 required to ask the council to examine the law's constitutionality.
The council is obliged to deliver its judgment within a month, but this
can be reduced to eight days if the government deems the matter urgent.
There are around 200,000 Lebanese of Armenian origin represented by
five ministers in the Lebanese Cabinet.
France recognizes the killings, which Armenians say up to 1.5 million
of their forebears were killed in 1915 and 1916 by the Ottoman Empire,
which broke up after the end of World War I.
If introduced, the new law would punish anyone who denies this with
up to a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros ($57,000).
Turkey disputes the figure, arguing that 500,000 people died and that
their deaths were not the result of genocide.
From: A. Papazian
The Daily Star
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Feb-02/161941-mp-janjian-thanks-french-envoy-over-armenian-genocide-law.ashx#axzz1lCcTZo9u
Feb 2 2012
Lebanon
BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces MP Shant Janjanian, a Lebanese-Armenian,
delivered a thank-you letter to French envoy to Lebanon Denis Pietton
Thursday for France's support of a bill banning the denial of the
Armenian genocide.
The French Senate approved a law last month to punish anyone with
jail time who denies that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman
Turk Forces amounted to genocide.
A left-wing group of senators said last week they had gathered 76
signatures from senators opposed to the law, more than the minimum
60 required to ask the council to examine the law's constitutionality.
The council is obliged to deliver its judgment within a month, but this
can be reduced to eight days if the government deems the matter urgent.
There are around 200,000 Lebanese of Armenian origin represented by
five ministers in the Lebanese Cabinet.
France recognizes the killings, which Armenians say up to 1.5 million
of their forebears were killed in 1915 and 1916 by the Ottoman Empire,
which broke up after the end of World War I.
If introduced, the new law would punish anyone who denies this with
up to a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros ($57,000).
Turkey disputes the figure, arguing that 500,000 people died and that
their deaths were not the result of genocide.
From: A. Papazian