BELGIUM WITHDRAWS BILL ON SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Turkish Press
June 2 2005
Press Review:
TURKIYE
The Belgium Senate Justice Commission yesterday withdrew a bill
proposing fines and jail terms for people who deny the so-called
Armenian genocide allegations. The Armenian lobby was shocked by the
decision. ‘We finally decided to withdraw the proposal because we
need to consider the issue more seriously,” Belgian Prime Minister
Guy Verhofstadt is reported to have said. The bill is now expected to
be retuned to the Federal Assembly, which previously approved it and
sent it to the Senate. Justice Minister Laurette Onkelix remarked that
since a political institution should not evaluate historical events,
the Senate has decided to leave the issue to the historians of both
the Turkish and Armenian sides. /Turkiye/