FRENCH SENATE SETS DEBATE ON GENOCIDE DENIAL BILL FOR JANUARY 23
Monsters and Critics
Jan 10 2012
Paris - The French Senate on Tuesday confirmed that the chamber would
on January 23 debate a bill making it a crime to deny that Armenians
suffered genocide at Turkish hands during World War I.
The lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, already adopted
the bill on December 22. The Senate must also pass the text in order
for it to become law.
The bill, which was proposed by a member of President Nicolas
Sarkozy's party, proposes that people who deny genocides recognized
by France face a one-year jail term and a fine of up to 45,000 euros
(58,000 dollars).
That includes people who deny that the mass killings of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks during World War I was genocide.
More than 15 countries have recognized the slaughter of up to 1.5
million Armenians during the break-up of the Ottoman Empire as
genocide.
Turkey admits that hundreds of thousands of Armenians died, but denies
there was a systematic policy to eliminate them.
Ankara reacted angrily to the adoption of the bill by the assembly
in December, recalling its ambassador and suspending all contact
with France.
The ambassador returned to France at the weekend, in order to lobby
against the bill being passed by the Senate.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Monsters and Critics
Jan 10 2012
Paris - The French Senate on Tuesday confirmed that the chamber would
on January 23 debate a bill making it a crime to deny that Armenians
suffered genocide at Turkish hands during World War I.
The lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, already adopted
the bill on December 22. The Senate must also pass the text in order
for it to become law.
The bill, which was proposed by a member of President Nicolas
Sarkozy's party, proposes that people who deny genocides recognized
by France face a one-year jail term and a fine of up to 45,000 euros
(58,000 dollars).
That includes people who deny that the mass killings of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks during World War I was genocide.
More than 15 countries have recognized the slaughter of up to 1.5
million Armenians during the break-up of the Ottoman Empire as
genocide.
Turkey admits that hundreds of thousands of Armenians died, but denies
there was a systematic policy to eliminate them.
Ankara reacted angrily to the adoption of the bill by the assembly
in December, recalling its ambassador and suspending all contact
with France.
The ambassador returned to France at the weekend, in order to lobby
against the bill being passed by the Senate.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress