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FRENCH PANEL REJECTS ARMENIA GENOCIDE BILL
Aljazeera.com
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/01/20121194532961594.html
Jan 19 2012
Qatar
Senate commission rejects bill to make it illegal to deny mass killing
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 to 1916.
A French Senate committee has rejected a bill to make it illegal to
deny that mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century
ago amounted to genocide.
The Senate's Commission of Laws on Wednesday voted 23 to nine, with
eight abstentions, that such a bill could violate constitutional
protections, including freedom of speech.
"We consider that if this law was passed, there would be a large risk
of it being unconstitutional," Jean-Pierre Sueur, the commission head,
said. "We cannot write history with laws. Freedom of expression must
be respected."
Despite the committee's rejection, the bill is expected to be passed
in the Senate's final vote on Monday, in which most senators opposed
to the legislation are expected to abstain.
The proposed legislation has soured relations between Paris and
Ankara, with Turkey imposing symbolic sanctions and Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing the French of 'genocide' during France's
132-year colonial rule in Algeria.
"Ankara welcomes the decision by the Laws Commission at the
Senate which clearly shows its position by saying that this bill is
unconstitutional," Engin Solakoglu, spokesman at the Turkish embassy
in Paris, told the AFP news agency.
'Sympathy for suffering'
In a statement, the commission said: "There was a genocide, and the
commission wants to express its infinite respect for the Armenian
people, and the terrible experiences that they have endured".
But the panel also expressed doubts about "the legitimacy of the
intervention of the legislature in the field of history" and suggested
that commemorations or legislative resolutions might be a better way
to express sympathy for the suffering than laws to criminalise some
types of speech.
France formally recognised the 1915 to 1916 killings as genocide in
2001, but provided no penalty for denying it.
The proposed law would set punishment of up to one year in prison and
a fine of up to $59,000 for those who deny or 'outrageously minimise"
the killings - placing such denial on par with those of the Holocaust.
France is home to an estimated 500,000 people of Armenian origin.
Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died when the Ottoman Turks deported
them from eastern Anatolia to the Syrian desert and elsewhere in 1915
to 1916. They were killed or died from starvation or disease.
Armenians say 1.5 million died. Turkey estimates the total to be
300,000.
The dispute about whether it was genocide centres on the degree to
which the killings were orchestrated.
Turkey admits atrocities were committed but argue that there was no
systematic attempt to destroy the Christian Armenian people.
Even if the Senate - the upper house of parliament - was to reject
the bill, the more powerful lower house - the National Assembly -
could resurrect the bill and try again.
Aljazeera.com
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/01/20121194532961594.html
Jan 19 2012
Qatar
Senate commission rejects bill to make it illegal to deny mass killing
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 to 1916.
A French Senate committee has rejected a bill to make it illegal to
deny that mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century
ago amounted to genocide.
The Senate's Commission of Laws on Wednesday voted 23 to nine, with
eight abstentions, that such a bill could violate constitutional
protections, including freedom of speech.
"We consider that if this law was passed, there would be a large risk
of it being unconstitutional," Jean-Pierre Sueur, the commission head,
said. "We cannot write history with laws. Freedom of expression must
be respected."
Despite the committee's rejection, the bill is expected to be passed
in the Senate's final vote on Monday, in which most senators opposed
to the legislation are expected to abstain.
The proposed legislation has soured relations between Paris and
Ankara, with Turkey imposing symbolic sanctions and Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing the French of 'genocide' during France's
132-year colonial rule in Algeria.
"Ankara welcomes the decision by the Laws Commission at the
Senate which clearly shows its position by saying that this bill is
unconstitutional," Engin Solakoglu, spokesman at the Turkish embassy
in Paris, told the AFP news agency.
'Sympathy for suffering'
In a statement, the commission said: "There was a genocide, and the
commission wants to express its infinite respect for the Armenian
people, and the terrible experiences that they have endured".
But the panel also expressed doubts about "the legitimacy of the
intervention of the legislature in the field of history" and suggested
that commemorations or legislative resolutions might be a better way
to express sympathy for the suffering than laws to criminalise some
types of speech.
France formally recognised the 1915 to 1916 killings as genocide in
2001, but provided no penalty for denying it.
The proposed law would set punishment of up to one year in prison and
a fine of up to $59,000 for those who deny or 'outrageously minimise"
the killings - placing such denial on par with those of the Holocaust.
France is home to an estimated 500,000 people of Armenian origin.
Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died when the Ottoman Turks deported
them from eastern Anatolia to the Syrian desert and elsewhere in 1915
to 1916. They were killed or died from starvation or disease.
Armenians say 1.5 million died. Turkey estimates the total to be
300,000.
The dispute about whether it was genocide centres on the degree to
which the killings were orchestrated.
Turkey admits atrocities were committed but argue that there was no
systematic attempt to destroy the Christian Armenian people.
Even if the Senate - the upper house of parliament - was to reject
the bill, the more powerful lower house - the National Assembly -
could resurrect the bill and try again.