French politician regrets new vote on Armenian "genocide"

Agence France Presse — English
October 6, 2006 Friday 3:55 PM GMT

The head of the ruling UMP party bloc in France’s National Assembly,
Bernard Accoyer, said Friday he regretted a new attempt by the
opposition socialists to vote through a bill making it a punishable
offence to deny the Armenian "genocide".

Debate on the bill — which was originally tabled in May — is due
to take place on Thursday, despite protests from Ankara that it will
have a damaging effect on Franco-Turkish relations.

"The president of the Republic already reminded everyone when he was
in Armenia that France recognises officially the Armenian genocide and
is working for a better understanding between states in the region,"
Accoyer told AFP.

"As president of the UMP group, I regret that the Socialist party
(PS) bloc thought it useful to try once again to get parliament to
legislate on history," he said.

The Socialist bill would make it punishable by up to five years in
prison and a fine of 45,000 euros (57,000 dollars) to deny that Turkish
troops committed genocide against the Armenians between 1915 and 1917.

A 2001 French law officially recognises the massacres of Armenians
as genocide.

Armenians claim up to 1.5 million were slaughtered in orchestrated
killings between 1915 and 1917 by Turks, as the Ottoman Empire was
falling apart.

Turkey rejects the claims, saying 300,000 Armenians and at least as
many Turks died in civil strife when the Armenians took up arms for
independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with invading Russian
troops.

The Socialist party controls fewer than a third of seats in the
National Assembly. However the ruling Union for a Popular Movement has
promised a free vote, and some if its members also support the bill.

Last week in Yerevan, President Jacques Chirac said Turkey should
recognise the Armenian genocide as a condition for joining the EU.

However, he also said the opposition bill was "deliberately
controversial."

May’s debate on the bill followed stern warnings from Ankara on the
repercussions for bilateral relations, and broke up in uproar when
it ran out of parliamentary time.

On Friday Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Namik Tan warned again
that a positive vote could jeopardise "investments, the fruit of
years of work, and France will — so to speak — lose Turkey."