The Brunei Times, Brunei Darussalam
Oct 13 2006

French MPs vote on Armenia `genocide’ bill despite Turkish fury

13-Oct-06

FRENCH MPs yesterday adopted a bill that would make it a crime to
deny that the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians by the Ottomans was
genocide.

The draft law which has provoked the fury of Turkey, the modern state
that emerged from the Ottoman Empire will now be sent to the Senate,
or upper house of parliament, for another vote.

If it becomes law, it would make it a crime in France to deny that
the killings of the Armenians were genocide. Those violating the law
would face up to one year in prison and a fine of up to +euro+45,000
(US$57,000).

Ankara reacted swiftly, with the foreign ministry saying France had
dealt “a heavy blow” to its relations with Turkey, while parliament
speaker Bulent Arinc called the vote “shameful” and reflecting a
“hostile attitude”.

Turkey has threatened economic reprisals against France if the
legislation passes, warning that French firms could be excluded from
public tenders and that a boycott of French goods might be imposed.

The MPs in the lower house, the National Assembly, passed the bill,
introduced by the opposition Socialist Party, by 106 votes to 19.

Most of the parliamentarians from President Jacques Chirac’s ruling
conservative party were absent from the 577-seat chamber for the
vote.

The vote was the first step in what could be a lengthy legislative
passage for the bill, which has supporters and opponents ranged
across party lines. Turkey, though, is united in slamming the draft
law.

“If the bill is adopted, Turkey will not lose anything, but France
will lose not only Turkey, but something of itself as well,” Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday. Ankara contests the
term “genocide” for the killings and strongly opposes the bill’s
provisions.

It says 300,000 Armenians, and at least as many Turks, died in civil
strife when Armenians took up arms for independence and sided with
invading Russian troops as the Ottoman Empire fell apart during World
War I. Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their ancestors were
slaughtered in orchestrated killings that can only be seen as
genocide.

Around 400,000 people of Armenian origin are estimated to live in
France, the most famous being the singer Charles Aznavour, born
Chahnour Varinag Aznavourian to immigrant parents. One French MP of
Armenian descent, Patrick Devedjian, who belongs to the ruling UMP
party, told RTL radio that “I see no reason why the right shouldn’t
vote” in favour of the bill.

He said an amendment he had attached to it which would exclude
scientists, historians and academics from the provision of the law
made the bill “more reasonable ”. Turkey was simply trying to
employ “denial propaganda” over the Armenian killings, he claimed.

A Socialist MP, Jean-Michel Boucheron, took an opposing position,
saying “no parliament has the right to impose an ‘official’ history,
especially regarding a foreign country…. What would we say if the
Turkish parliament tried to shape France’s history?”

France in 2001 already adopted a law officially calling the massacres
a genocide sparking a first found of Turkish anger that had
short-lived negative consequences for French firms in Turkey.

The new bill would go further by making it illegal to deny that
genocide took place, much in the way denial of the Holocaust during
World War II is a crime in France.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the proposed
law “a blunder” and Turkish newspapers Thursday were scathing in
saying the bill undermined France’s commitment to freedom of
expression. “Liberty, equality and stupidity”, was how one daily,
Hurriyet, headlined its opinion. AFP