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FRANCE FACES FEUD WITH TURKEY AS ARMENIAN 'GENOCIDE' BILL OK'D
The Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2017316147_genocide24.html
Jan 24 2012
WA
Turkey had threatened diplomatic and economic reprisals against
France if the bill, to criminalize the denial of genocide in the
deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians from 1915 to 1917,
was definitively adopted.
PARIS - France and Turkey headed for another diplomatic showdown after
the French Senate on Monday adopted a bill that makes it a crime to
deny that Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks
a century ago.
Turkey has threatened diplomatic and economic reprisals against France
if the bill, which passed the lower house of parliament in December,
was definitively adopted. A majority of 127 senators voted in favor
of the bill after more than seven hours of intense debate. Eighty-six
members voted against. Many senators ducked out of voting on a bill
that was supported by the main parties despite its risk to relations
with a NATO ally.
Under the legislation, people who deny or "outrageously minimize"
genocides recognized by France face a year's imprisonment and $57,000
in fines.
After Monday's vote, France now officially recognizes two genocides:
the Nazi Holocaust during World War II and the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of Armenians in eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1917.
The country already has a law punishing Holocaust denial. The text
adopted Monday aims to extend the same sanctions to the Armenian
massacres, which a dozen countries have labeled a genocide.
Several hundred people demonstrated outside the Senate as the sparsely
attended debate got under way. A group of French protesters of Turkish
origin denounced the bill as an attempt to impose a French reading
of history. On the other side of a phalanx of riot police, a group of
Franco-Armenians demonstrated in support of the legislation. "It's a
fact (that there was genocide). All we want is for Turkey to recognize
that," an elderly woman told BFM TV.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday warned France that
Turkey had prepared a raft of punitive measures.
Many Turks already feel betrayed by France because of President
Nicolas Sarkozy's firm opposition to Turkey joining the European Union.
After December's Assembly vote, Turkey already had suspended bilateral
cooperation and temporarily recalled its ambassador. The Turkish
Embassy in Paris says that this time, diplomatic ties could be
downgraded, and that French firms could find themselves frozen out
of Turkish government contracts.
Armenians say about 1.5 million people were killed or died during
forced marches to the Syrian desert between 1915 and 1917. Turkey
estimates between 300,000 and 500,000 people died but rejects the
genocide label, saying that there was no systematic policy to destroy
the Christian Armenian community. Turkey says that many Muslim Turks
also died in the violence, which took place during World War I.
Erdogan has accused Sarkozy of using the bill, proposed by a member of
the ruling party, to win the support of France's small but influential
Armenian community before this year's presidential and parliamentary
elections.
Before becoming president in 2007, Sarkozy - who is expected to seek
re-election in April - promised the Armenian community to push through
legislation banning genocide denial.
The Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2017316147_genocide24.html
Jan 24 2012
WA
Turkey had threatened diplomatic and economic reprisals against
France if the bill, to criminalize the denial of genocide in the
deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians from 1915 to 1917,
was definitively adopted.
PARIS - France and Turkey headed for another diplomatic showdown after
the French Senate on Monday adopted a bill that makes it a crime to
deny that Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks
a century ago.
Turkey has threatened diplomatic and economic reprisals against France
if the bill, which passed the lower house of parliament in December,
was definitively adopted. A majority of 127 senators voted in favor
of the bill after more than seven hours of intense debate. Eighty-six
members voted against. Many senators ducked out of voting on a bill
that was supported by the main parties despite its risk to relations
with a NATO ally.
Under the legislation, people who deny or "outrageously minimize"
genocides recognized by France face a year's imprisonment and $57,000
in fines.
After Monday's vote, France now officially recognizes two genocides:
the Nazi Holocaust during World War II and the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of Armenians in eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1917.
The country already has a law punishing Holocaust denial. The text
adopted Monday aims to extend the same sanctions to the Armenian
massacres, which a dozen countries have labeled a genocide.
Several hundred people demonstrated outside the Senate as the sparsely
attended debate got under way. A group of French protesters of Turkish
origin denounced the bill as an attempt to impose a French reading
of history. On the other side of a phalanx of riot police, a group of
Franco-Armenians demonstrated in support of the legislation. "It's a
fact (that there was genocide). All we want is for Turkey to recognize
that," an elderly woman told BFM TV.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday warned France that
Turkey had prepared a raft of punitive measures.
Many Turks already feel betrayed by France because of President
Nicolas Sarkozy's firm opposition to Turkey joining the European Union.
After December's Assembly vote, Turkey already had suspended bilateral
cooperation and temporarily recalled its ambassador. The Turkish
Embassy in Paris says that this time, diplomatic ties could be
downgraded, and that French firms could find themselves frozen out
of Turkish government contracts.
Armenians say about 1.5 million people were killed or died during
forced marches to the Syrian desert between 1915 and 1917. Turkey
estimates between 300,000 and 500,000 people died but rejects the
genocide label, saying that there was no systematic policy to destroy
the Christian Armenian community. Turkey says that many Muslim Turks
also died in the violence, which took place during World War I.
Erdogan has accused Sarkozy of using the bill, proposed by a member of
the ruling party, to win the support of France's small but influential
Armenian community before this year's presidential and parliamentary
elections.
Before becoming president in 2007, Sarkozy - who is expected to seek
re-election in April - promised the Armenian community to push through
legislation banning genocide denial.