SARKOZY’S POLITICAL ADVISER CRITICIZES ARMENIAN BILL
By Ali Ihsan Aydin, Paris

Zaman, Turkey
Oct 11 2006

Francois Fillon, political adviser to Internal Minister Nicholas
Sarkozy, opposes the Armenian bill due before the French National
Assembly on Thursday.

Fillon, Sarkozy’s right hand man, said that the Armenian bill, which
would make it a crime to deny that Turkey perpetrated a genocide
against Armenians, was "a real mistake" and he called on French
parliamentarians to say "no" during tomorrow’s session.

In a statement to the French news channel LCI, Fillon admitted that
the French should stop enacting laws about historical issues. Fillon
also added that the Armenian issue had nothing to do with Turkey’s EU
membership process and he criticized those claiming that this should
be made a precondition.

One of the architects of the 2001 law recognizing the Armenian
genocide, socialist Jack Lang, the former minister of culture, has
reiterated that he is against the new bill. Speaking to the French
daily newspaper Liberation, Lang said that this new Armenian bill
would be against freedom of expression and unconstitutional.