FRENCH AMBASSADOR POUDADE: THAT BILL HAS NO FUTURE

Hurriyet, Turkey
Oct 17 2006

In a special interview with the Hurriyet, French Ambassador to Ankara,
Paul Poudade, spoke about the French Parliament’s decision to approve
the "genocide denial" bill last week. Ambassador Poudade was careful
to underline in his comments that he felt the bill "had no future"
politically in France. His answers to some questions are as follows:

(Hurriyet): Ambassador Poudade, what do you feel the future is for
the bill approved by the French Parliament on October 12?

Ambassador Poudade: I do not believe that there is any legal future
for this bill. I do not believe it will be turned into law. In order
for it to become law, it must first be accepted, without a single word
change, by the French Senate, and then signed by the French President
to be put into implementation. This would mean the going back and forth
between the parliament and senate many times, and if the bill were not
approved by the time this particular parliament comes to a close, in
February 2007, the bill would fall by the wayside. Moreover, barring
all of this, the bill could even go to our Constitutional Court. I
think this was an untimely and unnecessary initiative. This is why
President Chirac’s phone call to Prime Minister Erdogan expressing
the hope that no damage would come to French-Turkish relations as a
result of this bill was very important.

(Hurriyet): What reaction did the French people themselves have
towards this bill?

Ambassador Poudade: The French people feel much sympathy and closeness
to the Armenians. But this bill created great displeasure in the
general society, as well as raising many question marks…..As it
was, all of the Paris newspapers, and even more importantly, all the
provincial papers (aside from one printed in Marseilles) expressed
the same opinion.