People’s Daily, China
Oct 13 2006

EU concerned over French legislation on alleged Armenian genocide

The European Commission on Thursday expressed concern over French
legislation that would penalize denial of the alleged 1915-1917
Armenian Genocide by the Turks.

"If this law were to indeed enter into force, it would prohibit the
debate and the dialogue which is necessary for reconciliation on this
issue," said a commission spokeswoman.

The legislation won approval in the French lower house National
Assembly on Thursday. But it now needs to go through the Senate
before it becomes law, said Krisztina Nagy, the commission’s
spokeswoman on enlargement.

Turkey is in accession negotiations with the European Union (EU).

Nagy said the law could have a negative effect on the important
debate opened by the Turks on the issue.

It should not be law that writes history, said Nagy. To write
history, historians and intellectuals need to debate.

Asked if the Armenian issue would be another obstacle to Turkey’s
accession to the EU, Nagy said the recognition of the issue was not a
criterion for Turkey’s entry into the EU.

Under French law, Turkey’s accession needs approval by a referendum
in France.

Turkey began accession talks in October 2005. But experts believed
the negotiations would last at least one decade.

The spokeswoman would not be drawn to comment on whether or not the
commission, the executive body of the EU, would act against France,
should the legislation finally become law.

The alleged Armenian Genocide refers to the forced mass evacuation
and related deaths in 1915-1917 of hundreds of thousands or possibly
more than a million Armenians, during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

Some main aspects of the event are a matter of ongoing dispute among
the academic community and between parts of the international
community and Turkey.

Turkey rejects the term "genocide" and claims that the deaths among
the Armenians were not a result of a state-sponsored plan of mass
extermination, but of inter-ethnic strife, disease and famine during
the turmoil of World War I.