The New Anatolian, Turkey
Oct 13 2006

French Parliament moves ahead with making denial of ‘genocide’ a
crime

The New Anatolian / Paris

French parliamentarians on Thursday approved a bill making it a crime
to question the Armenian genocide claims, following a heated debate,
but a silent vote, on the bill.

Deputies in the French Parliament voted 106-19 for the bill, which
aims at introducing prison terms up to one year and fines up to
45,000 euros to those who question the controversial events of 1915.
There was a low turn-out of deputies from the ruling UMP, which is
known for its opposition to the approval of the bill.

The bill, which was introduced by the opposition Socialist Party
(PS), must still be passed by the Senate and be signed by President
Jacques Chirac to become law. However, analysts say that the ruling
UMP government won’t immediately bring the bill to the Senate floor.
Analysts also added that although bringing the bill to the Senate
could be postponed by the ruling party, there is no period of
prescription for the bill which will drop it from the agenda.

The Armenian bill was approved without including amendment requests
from UMP Deputy Patrik Deveciyan who suggested that studies by
scholars and historians on the Armenian genocide claims shouldn’t
become subject to the law.

Colonna expresses govt’s opposition

Speaking to Parliament ahead of the key vote on behalf of the
government, European Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna, who wad once
the spokeswoman of President Jacques Chirac, expressed the French
government’s opposition to the bill.

The French government expressed its opposition to the bill in May and
has not changed its position since then, she said. "There are three
reasons for this. First of all, in 2001 France recognized the
Armenian ‘genocide’ in 1915. This was pointed out by the French
president in Yerevan several weeks ago. We do not think a new one is
necessary," Colonna said.

Citing the opposition of Turkish intellectuals to the bill, Colonna
said that the present law risks creating adverse effects. "We have a
strong friendship and alliance with Turkey, a tie that dates back
centuries. Although we would like our Turkish friends to come to
terms with their past, this demand should go parallel to friendship.
Turkey has taken very courageous steps and its work should be allowed
to continue. Let us be clear, many intellectuals in the country, who
have themselves faced charges on the issue of the genocide, have
called for this law not to be adopted. Are we better placed than they
are to judge? This law risks destroying the fragile steps."

And, as the last point, she stressed that history should be written
by historians, not by politicians, saying, "I repeat what has been
said on this floor: History cannot be written through laws."

Besides Colonna, only two other deputies from the ruling UMP, Pierre
Lequiller and Michel Piron, opposed the bill during their speeches.

Deveciyan: Turkey has no lesson to teach us about repression of
opinions

The UMP’s Deveciyan, during his speech, both criticized the Turkish
government and the European European Enlargement commissioner, saying
that Turkey has no lesson to teach them
about repression of opinions.

Claiming that there is no freedom of _expression in Turkey, Deveciyan
stated that those who use the term "genocide" in Turkey are
imprisoned under Article 301 of the new Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

He and other supporters of the bill taking the floor from the ruling
and opposition parties used a protest by Turks in Lyon against the
inauguration of an Armenian "genocide" monument as a justification
for the need to approve the bill.

"Turkey has begun to export its policy of denial," said Deveciyan,
claiming that the protests in Lyon were organized by the Turkish
government. Deveciyan went on to claim that together with the
decision of the Parliament, they don’t want to write history but they
are continuing to fulfill the needs of the law enacted in 2001,
through which the French Parliament recognized the Armenian genocide
claims.

Armenia accuses Turkey of massacring Armenians during World War I,
when Armenia was under the Ottoman Empire. Turkey says Armenians were
killed together with Turks in civil unrest during the collapse of the
empire and in war conditions.

A similar bill was shelved in the spring amid pressure from Ankara.
It was represented by the opposition Socialists.

Turkey supporters abruptly left the Parliament building after the
vote without speaking to reporters. Outside, a few dozen protesters
of Armenian descent celebrated.

Chirac, during a visit to Armenia last month, said the bill "is more
of a polemic than of legal reality" but he also urged Turkey to
recognize "the genocide of Armenians" in order to join the European
Union. "Each country grows by acknowledging its dramas and errors of
the past," Chirac said.