The New Anatolian, Turkey
May 20 2006
French Parliament speaker: Laws can’t make history
Urging parliaments not to interfere with the job of historians,
French Parliament Speaker Jean-Louis Debre said on Friday that laws
can’t make history.
Debre made the remark while speaking to France Inter Radio amidst
continued Socialist anger over Thursday’s decision to postpone the
debate of a bill proposing prison terms and fines for people who
question the Armenian genocide claims.
Debre said that the vote didn’t take place because the Parliament ran
out of time. He added that it will be up to the Socialist Party to
submit another Armenian bill to Parliament.
The French Parliament speaker, whose opposition to the bill is
well-known, also expressed his support for the Turkish suggestion to
establish a commission composed of Turkish and Armenian historians to
jointly study archives related to the Armenian genocide claims.
Meanwhile, French sources told the Anatolia news agency that
Thursday’s move did not aim to shelve the debate on the Armenian bill
but rather to drop it from the Parliament’s agenda.