LE MONDE EDITORIAL ASKS FRENCH DEPUTIES TO REJECT BILL
By Ali Ihsan Aydin, Paris

Zaman Online, Turkey
Oct 12 2006

France’s Le Monde newspaper called on French deputies not to vote for
the Armenian draft bill before the session at the French parliament
today.

In an editorial, the newspaper termed the draft to penalize anyone who
denies the purported Armenian genocide as an "inappropriate discussion"
and said that politicians must not act as ministries of truth.

Before the critical session, Le Monde’s lead editorial column was on
the draft bill submitted by France’s Socialist Party.

Pointing out this initiative divided all political parties within
themselves, the newspaper said the bill would most probably pass but
it would never come to the agenda of the senate, which is the next
step before the bill becomes law.

In the article, it is said the purported Armenian genocide is not
equal to the Jewish genocide and denying the Jewish genocide was a
kind of anti-Semitism that is penalized by the French law as racism.

Le Monde said this had nothing to do with the so-called Armenian
genocide.

Reiterating that the so-called Armenian genocide had no place in the
penal code, Le Monde said "This is the memory work of the Turkish
nation."

Quoting Nicolas Sarkozy, who supports the bill, the editorial read
"Freedom of expression is not manipulating history nor denying
historical evidence," Le Monde replied to the ruling party leader
as follows: "Freedom of expression is neither taking the history and
the Armenian case hostage for political goals."

Addressing the politicians, Le Monde said "We hope deputies will not
vote for this bill and correct this wrong step."

In the article entitled "L’Armenie en otage" (Armenia in Hostage), it
is stated the bill puts forward a double problem in terms of history
and Turkey knocking at the door of the European Union. The article
handles the following points in summary:

First of all, the view that "history cannot be written down by laws,"
which was settled since the polemic on the law about "the positive
role of the colonization."

French historians published a manifesto on this.

The bill opposes this consensus approved by President Jacques Chirac.

The other problem is that the bill will be counterproductive in Turkey,
where the alleged genocide has begun to be discussed, which will give
a trump to the nationalists.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress