October 12, 2006


France Adopts Armenian Genocide Bill

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Tsitsernakaberd, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006

Despite Turkish protests, PanArmenian.net reports that the lower house of the French Parliament has passed a bill making it a crime to deny the Armenian Genocide.

A total of 106 deputies voted in favor of the bill while 19 voted against, France Info radio reports. The amendment of former minister Patrick Devedjian, authorizing the debate of the historians on the history of the Genocide, was rejected by the deputies. The bill has still to be ratified by the upper house, the Senate, and the President Jacques Chirac before it becomes law.

The bill provides for one year of imprisonment and a fine of 45 thousand Euros for denying the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey during World War I.

RFE/RL carries a Reuters report with the same news, and the BBC also has more. Meanwhile, Eurasianet carries an item on Chirac’s recent visit to Armenia as well as French opposition to Turkey’s EU candidacy.

Artyom at iArarat has more albeit quirky coverage here.

Posted by Onnik @ 8:18 pm. Filed under: Armenia, Freedom of Speech, Turkey, Armenian Genocide, Legislation, Europe




4 Comments »

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  1. Go, France :)

    Comment by Nessuna — October 12, 2006 @ 9:44 pm

  2. france-turkey 2:0 !

    Comment by artyom — October 12, 2006 @ 9:51 pm

  3. Not related to the Genocide Bill in the French Parliament, but rather to the issue of Genocide Recognition which is more important, just remembered that New Internationalist published a full page photo of mine from last year’s 24 April at Tsitsernakaberd in Yerevan in both the physical and online editions of their magazine .

    Perhaps the only day when most Armenians set aside their differences and come together is 24 April. This date commemorates the death of as many as 1.5 million Armenians during the massacres and deportations that took place in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 onwards.

    The annual march to the memorial in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, took on a special significance this year – the 90th anniversary. There are now hopes that Turkey will soon recognize the massacres and deportations as genocide. As the modern-day Republic of Turkey enters into negotiations for accession to the European Union, many intellectuals, historians and human rights activists – including in Turkey itself – believe that recognition is crucial if Armenia’s neighbour is to develop democratically.

    http://live.newint.org/columns/exposure/2005/07/01/onnik-krikorian/

    Comment by Onnik — October 13, 2006 @ 12:50 am

  4. Hmmm, doesn’t seem that the EU is happy about this bill, lending ammunition to those who believe that France only passed it to scupper Turkey’s possible future membership.

    EU raises concerns over French Armenia bill

    BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union said French parliament approval on Thursday of a bill making it a crime to deny Armenians suffered genocide by Ottoman Turks could harm efforts to end decades of dispute over the killings.

    […]

    A European Commission spokeswoman noted the bill still needed upper house approval and said EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn had repeatedly warned in recent days it would damage efforts in Turkey and Armenia to resolve the dispute.

    “Should this law enter into force … it would prohibit dialogue which is necessary for reconciliation on the issue,” spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy told a regular news conference.

    Asked whether the bill could add a stumbling block to difficult accession talks with Ankara opened just over a year ago, she noted recognition of the 1915 killings as a genocide was not a precondition for accession.

    http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-10-12T203811Z_01_L12845165_RTRUKOC_0_UK-FRANCE-TURKEY.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsLanding-C4-World-2

    Interestingly, Genocide denial is not a crime in Armenia and the Government has even moved to prevent attempts to make it so, arguing that there is no need to do so here.

    However, Cilicia.com says that this is also now about to change and I think I remember reading something along those lines in the past week or so.

    Meanwhile, the Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian has issued a statement on the French bill:

    Today’s approval of the bill by the French National Assembly is a natural continuation of France’s principled and consistent defense of human and historic rights and values.

    This decision is also a natural reaction to the intensive, aggressive and official denialism of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish state. They have undertaken a premeditated, planned assault on the truth.

    To adopt such a decision is the French Parliament’s sovereign right and is understandable. What we don’t understand is the Turkish government’s instigation of extremist public reactions, especially while Turkey itself has a law that does exactly the same thing and punishes those who even use the term genocide or venture to discuss those events.

    http://www.a1plus.am/en/?page=issue&iid=41924

    Interestingly, one comment on the Cilicia post wonders if making Genocide Denial isn’t a violation of freedom of speech, and such an argument has certainly been made about laws prohibiting denial of the Jewish Holocaust.

    Shafak and Dink are against it, in my opinion because it contradicts all the principles of freedom of speech.

    I by no means support the despicable propaganda perpetrated by Turkish denialists in recent years but think that this bill passed in France has exactly the same effect as the Turkish bill that imprisons writers and historians for insulting Turkishness…

    One of the most well-known cases regarding the latter was that of Robert Faurisson in France. Noam Chomsky was one of many who defended Faurisson on the basis of his right to freedom of speech and not his claims.

    Comment by Onnik — October 13, 2006 @ 9:09 am

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