‘GENOCIDE’ BILL, A MODERN INQUISITION
By Selcuk Gultasli, Brussels
Zaman, Turkey
May 18 2006
Olivier Corten, a professor at Belgium’s ULB University Faculty of Law,
believes bills that would criminalize denial of the Armenian Genocide
are a “modern inquisition” and said if the Armenian massacres are
defined as “genocide,” we could say that Europe’s colonial history
is full of “genocides.”
Corten, one of the experts who informed the genocide committee at
the Belgian Senate, said since he is not a historian he does now know
about the 1915 incidents in detail, but he is against the bill.
He spoke to Zaman before discussion of the denial bill begins in
France.
Speaking to Corten after he advised the Senate Commission not to accept
such a bill, Corten told Zaman he is against the bill punishing those
who deny the Armenian “Genocide” for two reasons.
Firstly, he stresses there is no court verdict about Armenian genocide,
and secondly, there is not a retrospective principle in law.
If we expand the genocide expression to cover the pre-World War II
period, many incidents could be called genocide, Corten said, “Then,
we should go back to 18th and 19th centuries, probably even to Roman
Empire period.”
Corten said it is difficult to adapt “genocide” laws to penal code
and commented, “You commit a crime, but at the time you commit the
crime the consequences are not clear; namely, you commit a crime that
is non-existing in law.”
‘Belgium’s Attitude is Unethical’
Corten, pointing out Belgium is still trying to face its past with
Congo, said it is unethical for Belgium to give lessons to Turkey
before “cleaning the front side of its own house.”
Corten does not call the acts Belgian King Leopold II committed
in Congo a “genocide,” saying instead: “This is not genocide since
the massacres were held for money. In the same way, if there is no
intention of categorically destroying, an event cannot be called
genocide no matter how many people died.”
Corten, indicating he uses very narrow criteria for the definition
of genocide, said ethnic cleansing is not genocide; genocide can
be used in reference to the massacres of the Jews and the massacres
in Rwanda where the intention of exterminating a race was obvious:
“If in war time people are killed for the security of a region,
this is not genocide according to me, but instead a war crime. Even
if you apply current conditions of genocide, this situation does not
constitute genocide.”
“Emir Kir Started the Discussion”
Emphasizing his doubt that Belgium would pass the draft bill in its
current form, in which a prison sentence and a hefty fine would be
given to those found guilty of denying the so-called genocide, Corten
believes that the discussion was started by Turkish origin minister,
Emir Kir, only for domestic political reasons.
“If this bill passes unchanged, it will be a surprise to me,” said
Corten, pointing out that thousands of Turkish Belgians and Turkish
officials coming to Brussels for EU negotiations might be imprisoned
if the bill becomes law.
Underlining that in the past Belgium had issued a similar problematic
law to judge war criminals worldwide, which was later dissolved,
Corten stated that Belgium make the same mistake again.
Belgian Minister Emir Kir was attacked when he used the term,
“so-called genocide” during an interview. Some Belgian politicians
in relation with the lobby called for Kir’s resignation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
