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Hollande plans new law to punish denial of Armenian genocide

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  • Hollande plans new law to punish denial of Armenian genocide

    Agence France Presse
    July 7 2012


    Hollande plans new law to punish denial of Armenian genocide

    (AFP)

    PARIS - French President Francois Hollande confirmed Saturday plans
    for a new law criminalising denial of the Armenian genocide with
    representatives of the Armenian community, the Elysee Palace said.

    The historical question has long been a hot-button issue between
    Turkey and Armenia, a dispute that has also drawn in other countries
    and earlier this year sparked a diplomatic crisis between Paris and
    Ankara.

    Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed in a
    1915-16 genocide by Turkey's former Ottoman Empire. Turkey says
    500,000 died and ascribes the toll to fighting and starvation during
    World War I.

    Hollande's conservative predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy angered Ankara
    when he pushed ahead with a bill to criminalise denial of the Armenian
    genocide.

    After the contentious bill passed the National Assembly in December,
    Turkey retaliated by suspending military and political cooperation
    with Paris.

    But France's top constitutional court struck down the bill in
    February, saying it violated free expression, in a ruling welcomed by
    Ankara.

    Sarkozy vowed to launch a new law but was defeated at the polls.

    Now his Socialist successor Hollande has clarified in a talk with the
    Coordinating Council of Armenian Organisations of France (CCAF) that
    he will propose a similar law, the group said Saturday.

    "Francois Hollande has again expressed his willingness to propose a
    bill designed to curb the denial of the Armenian genocide, as he had
    said during his campaign and even before," said the group.

    It said Hollande had contacted them to clarify his position after
    confusion over statements by his Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

    The Elysee Palace confirmed the telephone conversation and told AFP:
    "The president expressed his commitments during the campaign. He will
    keep them."

    "There is no change, although we must find a path, a road that allows
    for a text that is consistent with the constitution."

    Both candidates marked the Armenian genocide anniversary in Paris in
    April by attending a ceremony and expressing support for the passage
    of a newly-worded bill that would outlaw genocide denial. France is
    home to a large Armenian community.

    US President Barack Obama in April called for "a full, frank, and just
    acknowledgment of the facts" of the "brutal" killings.

    While denouncing the 1915 massacre as "one of the worst atrocities of
    the 20th century," Obama did not use the term "genocide," but he
    implicitly called for Turkey to acknowledge the role of its Ottoman
    forefathers.

    After Hollande was elected, Turkey in June praised his positive
    attitude toward relations with Ankara.

    Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Hollande on the
    sidelines of a UN meeting in Brazil, when the two leaders agreed to
    turn a "new page" in relations, the Anatolia news agency reported.


    From: Baghdasarian
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