DISPUTES OVER ‘ARMENIAN’ BILL IN FRANCE

AZG Armenian Daily
12/10/2006

The French National Assembly will vote today on a bill that stipulates
that a denial of the Armenian Genocide can carry up to one year in
jail and an additional fine up to 45,000 euros. The bill is coming
to supplement the French law of 2001 recognizing the Genocide.

On the eve of the vote there was no unanimity even among the Socialist
Party members who had submitted the bill.

Le Figaro writes that Patrick Devejian, MP of the ruling Union for
a Popular Movement party (UMP), submitted an amendment proposal to
"exempt the studies of historians and scientists on this issue from
the scope of the bill."

The bill has infuriated Turkey. On Tuesday prime minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan called on France to recall its own colonial past. Ankara
threatens to impose on France trade and political sanctions.