ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY APPLAUDS FRANCE FOR STRONGLY AFFIRMING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Oct 16 2006

According to the information DE FACTO got at the Armenian Assembly
of America (AAA), the Assembly welcomes the continued commitment by
the French parliament to keep the history of the Armenian Genocide
inviolable despite calls from Turkey to drop an Armenian Genocide
bill or risk damaging bilateral ties.

Òhe French National Assembly voted 106 to 19 to approve legislation
that would penalize Armenian Genocide denial with fines and a jail
term. The bill must still be approved by France’s upper house of
parliament and signed by President Jacques Chirac, who called on
Turkey to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide during a recent state
visit to Armenia.

According to The Associated Press, Chirac asked, "Should Turkey
recognize the Genocide of Armenians to join the European Union?

Honestly, I believe so. Each country grows by acknowledging its dramas
and errors of the past."

In the week leading up to the vote, the Turkish government warned
France that bilateral relations would suffer if lawmakers approved the
bill. A statement issued by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, criticized
the vote saying, "French-Turkish relations….have been dealt a
severe blow today as a result of the irresponsible false claims
of French politicians who do not see the political consequences of
their actions."

The Armenian government, for its part, called the vote a "natural
continuation of France’s principled and consistent defenses of human
and historic rights and values."

The statement from Foreign Affairs Minister Vartan Oskanian also
said, "To adopt such a decision is the French Parliament’s sovereign
right and is understandable. What we don’t understand is the Turkish
government’s instigation of extremist public relations, especially
while Turkey itself has a law that does exactly the same thing and
punishes those who even use the term genocide or venture to discuss
those events."

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