Armenians Take Initiative to Remove Court Condition in Belgium
By Selcuk Gultasli

Zaman, Turkey
May 7 2005

Published: Saturday 07, 2005
zaman.com

Belgian Armenians intensified their activities to amend the draft bill,
which contains a provision for jail sentence and fine, for those who
deny the Armenian “genocide”.

Claiming that there are too many requirements for the jail sentence and
the fine in the bill, Armenian groups took the support of 15 senators
required to amend the bill. Hence it passed the Parliament and will
be discussed in the Senate and may be sent back to Parliament for
re-negotiation. The news that the draft may be amended increased the
discomfort of the Belgian Turkish society as it was making efforts
to stop the present bill.

The draft accepted in Parliament with 108 “yes”, 21″abstain,”
and zero “no” on April 21, makes the decision of an international
court necessary for the penalty to be imposed. The fact that there
is not any court decision that recognizes the Armenian “genocide”
prompted Belgian Armenians to take action. Armenian associations
bombarded Belgian senators with messages for the last two weeks
to remove the requirement of court approval. The signatures of
15 senators, who will set up the debate for the draft upon the
intensified efforts of Armenians, were gathered two days before, on
May 5. If 15 signatures had not been gathered, the draft would have
been accepted in Parliament in its original form and court approval
would have been required for the penalty to be imposed. In the new
draft, it is highlighted that European Parliament (EP) decision or
any country to enact legislation will be enough for the ones who
deny “genocide” to be imposed penalty. The EP accepted the Armenian
“genocide” with a controversial decision in 1987 and recognized
“genocide” with legislation enacted in France in 2001.