ARMENIAN BILL CONTINUES TO SET WORLD AT ODDS

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Oct 16 2006

US Armenians welcome ‘genocide’ bill

People of Armenian origin living in the U.S. welcomed the French
Parliament’s passage last week of a bill making it illegal to deny
the Armenian genocide claims.

In a written statement over the weekend, an Armenian group expressed
its pleasure over passage of the bill but added that it still needs
the approval of the French Senate and President Jacques Chirac.

In related news, during a phone conversation over the weekend President
Chirac assured Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he won’t sign
the bill.

French President Chirac expressed his disappointment over the bill
and told Erdogan that he will do best to block it from becoming law.

Underlining that the Armenian bill is related to next year’s elections
in France, Chirac said that Armenian voters living in France had also
influenced its passage by Parliament, stressing that the development
shouldn’t hurt good relations between Turkey and France.

2 Lang invites scholars to debate Armenia genocide claims

Former French Culture Minister and Socialist Deputy Jack Lang over
the weekend called on Turkish and Armenian scholars to organize
seminars about their common history to shed light on the Armenian
genocide claims.

Stating that the bill is unconstitutional and would erode freedom of
_expression, Lang stated that France should assist the debate between
Armenians and Turkish intellectuals to institutionalize a dialogue
between societies instead of making laws.

3 Rasmussen: Freedom of _expression is limited

The Danish premier, who justified the publication of the controversial
Prophet Muhammed cartoons in a Danish newspaper this year, claiming
that they were an _expression of freedom of speech, over the weekend
criticized the French Parliament’s approval of the Armenian bill,
stressing that the move limits freedom of _expression.

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who at the time stated that
he didn’t have the authority to ban the publication of the Muhammed
cartoons since it was an issue of freedom of _expression amid protests
in the Muslim world, said, "Channeling people towards violence,
terrorism and provoking terrorism can be prohibited by law.

However, people should be left free to express what they think. I do
not find France’s act correct."

4 EP president: Secular Turkey is no threat to EU

The president of the European Parliament stated that a secular Turkey
isn’t a threat to the EU, referring to the French Parliament’s passage
of the Armenian bill, which he implied is an extension of the French
desire for the issue to become a precondition for Turkey’s membership.

EP President Joseph Borrell, speaking to Italian daily La Stampa
over the weekend, warned that the EU can’t survive by supporting a
single culture in today’s world, and said, "Europe should get used
to multiculturalism, because hundreds of thousands of immigrants move
to Europe each year bringing their cultures with them."

Speaking out against new conditions being brought before Turkey
during its EU accession process, Borrell said, "There are criteria for
incoming EU member states. Turkey will become a member by fulfilling
them during a long and difficult period. The EU, for its part, will
take in Turkey by making concessions on its geographical situation. And
Turkey’s membership will strengthen the EU politically and make the
Union a multicultural power."

5 The Observer: French past not spotless

British daily The Observer commented on Sunday that making denial
of an Armenian "genocide" a criminal offense is "wrong and bad,"
describing the French move as an "enemy of free speech."

The daily underlined that quite apart from limiting free speech, and
therefore legitimizing a desirable debate on historical questions,
the French are "surely obliged to remember more distinctly, and more
publicly, the collaboration of so many of their own people with the
Nazi transport of Jews before starting on the business of criminalizing
remoter cases of denial."

The Observer also stated that the Armenian bill was designed to
complicate Turkey’s application to join the EU.

"It is a bewildering reality that France sees Turkey’s refusal
to acknowledge what happened to the Armenians as an obstacle to
membership, while at the same time continuing to regard its own
wartime behavior as somehow irreproachable," it was added.

6 Armenian ‘genocide’ statue stolen from Paris suburb

A statue commemorating an Armenian "genocide" has been stolen from
a Paris suburb, local authorities said on Saturday.

The event took place three days after French lawmakers approved the
controversial bill that would make it a crime to question the Armenian
genocide claims.

The bronze monument, installed in front of the train station in the
Paris suburb of Chaville in 2002, went missing between Friday night
and Saturday morning, said the authorities of the Haut-de-Seine region.

The police have not ruled out the possibility that the statue, which
weighs several hundred kilograms, was stolen to be sold as scrap metal,
said Stephane Topalian, who serves on the board of the local chapter
of the Armenian church.

However, Topalian stressed the timing of the robbery, which came just
days after France’s lower house of Parliament on Thursday passed a
bill that would criminalize questioning the Armenian genocide claims.