WORLD – EU ATTACKS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

Morning Star
October 14, 2006 Saturday

The European Union lashed out on Friday at a French Bill that would
make it a crime to deny that the World War I killings of Armenians
in Turkey were genocide.

The EU described the French legislation as counter-productive at a
critical stage in Turkey’s accession talks.

"We don’t think that this decision at this moment is helpful in the
context of the European Union’s relations with Turkey," European
Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said.

"This is not the best way to contribute to something we think is
important."

On Thursday, French deputies voted by 106 to 19 to approve a Bill that
would make it a crime to deny that the mass killings of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I was genocide.

The Bill still needs to be approved by the French Senate and President
Jacques Chirac before it can become law.

Turkey denounced the French National Assembly’s decision, warning
that it would harm bilateral relations.

EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said that the Bill, "instead
of opening up the debate, would rather close it down and thus have
a negative impact.

"We don’t achieve real dialogue and real reconciliation by ultimatums,
but by dialogue. Therefore, this law is counter-productive," Mr
Rehn said.

He also complained that it was badly timed, saying: "The real issue
now is to avoid a train crash because of a slowing-down of the
reform process" in Turkey "and because of Turkey not yet meeting its
obligations" in EU entry requirements.

Mr Barroso said that "the very sensitive issue" of Armenia should be
addressed by "Turkish society itself.

"Frankly, we don’t think it is helpful that another parliament outside
takes a legislative action on a matter of historical interpretation
and analysis," he said.

France already recognises the 1915-19 killings of up to 1.5 million
Armenians as genocide.

Under Thursday’s Bill, those who contest that it was genocide would
risk up to a year in prison and fines of up to 45,000 euros (£30,150).

The Turkish Consumers Union announced a limited boycott of French
goods on Friday in retaliation for the French legislation.

The group said that the boycott would begin with French oil products
company Total, adding that it would name a new French company for
Turks to boycott each week.

"By adopting the Bill on making denial of the so-called Armenian
genocide a crime, the French National Assembly expressed its opposition
to freedom of thought," group chairman Bulent Deniz said.

He vowed that the boycott would continue until the law was defeated
or annulled.

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