FRENCH RULING PARTY TO ABSTAIN FROM ARMENIAN BILL VOTE
By Cihan News Agency

Zaman Online, Turkey
Oct 11 2006

The French ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) has condemned
Socialist Party (PS) for a bill that was tabled by PS, declaring that
the UMP would absent itself from the vote.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei stated that
the bill, which penalizes those who deny the alleged Armenian genocide
during World War I, was unnecessary according to their point of view.

The UMP, however, agreed to support draft resolution of Patrick
Devedjian, Deputy Minister of Interior, on the controversial Armenian
bill. Devedjian had proposed that historians should be exempted
from punishment.

The draft bill, which was originally brought before the French
parliament in May, is to be debated again on Thursday.

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