BILL WILL NOT AFFECT RELATIONS
By Brian Adeba

Embassy Magazine, Canada
Canada’s Foreign Policy Newsweekly
Oct 18 2006

French envoy says a bill making it illegal to deny the Armenian
genocide won’t harm either Turkey’s EU bid, or relations with France.

A new French bill outlawing the denial of mass killings of Armenians
in Turkey in 1915 should not have an impact on Ankara’s efforts to
join the European Union and its relations with France because it is
not an initiative of the French government, says French Ambassador
to Canada Daniel Jouanneau.

Last week, a low turnout of French legislators voted on a bill that
makes it illegal to deny that genocide was committed against Armenians
by the Ottoman Turks in the dying days of the First World War. Though
President Jacques Chirac’s government opposed the legislation, it
did not use its majority in the lower house to vote against it.

The bill was approved by a vote of 106 to 19. Most of the 557
legislators of the lower house boycotted the voting process. The bill
still has to be approved by the Senate and signed by Mr. Chirac before
it becomes law.

"We don’t know what the Senate will decide," says Mr. Jouanneau.

"The question about the possibility of this bill to become law remains
totally open."

Calling the bill "unnecessary and counterproductive," Mr. Jouanneau
says France already has laws against holocaust deniers and intolerance
towards minorities.

Turkey, which contests the notion that it committed genocide against
its Armenian subjects during the last days of the Ottoman empire,
has warned of serious repercussions on relations with France because
of the vote. Mr. Jouanneau says the French government hopes it will
not lead to deterioration in bilateral ties.

"We don’t think it is wise to create political difficulties with
Turkey at a time when Turks themselves are having an introspective
look at their own history," he says.

This month marks the first anniversary of the opening of negotiations
on Turkey’s bid to join the European Union (EU). The passing of the
bill raises fears that it will be used as an excuse to block Turkey
from joining the EU, an idea Mr. Jouanneau dismisses.

"Recognizing the genocide is not an additional condition which we
ask from the Turkish government," he says.

There are an estimated 500,000 French citizens of Armenian descent.

Mr. Jouanneau says they hold considerable political clout in the
country and have contributed immensely to French society. But he adds
that France considers Turkey an important partner in international
affairs, noting that Turkey was one of the first countries France
established diplomatic ties with in the 16th century.

Lavinia Stan, a political scientist who closely follows EU membership
issues, says the question of the Armenian genocide is not likely to
affect talks on Turkey’s bid to join the EU. Matters more likely
to crop up in the talks are concerns over the country’s treatment
of its minorities, especially the Kurds, says Ms. Stan, who is the
director of the Centre for Post Communist Studies at St. Francis
Xavier University in Nova Scotia.

"Other countries like Romania and Slovakia had similar problems with
ethnic minorities, but entered talks with the EU," she says. Slovakia
joined the EU in 2004 and Romania is expected to become a member
early next year.

Aris Babikian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee
of Canada, says the timing of the bill is important because it comes
at a time of growing "intransigence" towards the Armenian genocide
in Turkey.

"Article 301 of the Turkish penal code drags everyone to court who
questions the genocide," he says, adding that many intellectuals
have fallen foul of the penal code for suggesting that genocide was
committed against Armenians.

Last month, a judge in Ankara dropped charges against a writer
accused of insulting "Turkishness." Elif Shafak had written a novel
in which her fictional characters had made unfavourable comments
about the massacre of Armenians. Last a year, a court also dropped
charges against Orhan Pamuk-winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for
literature-for similar charges.

Ms. Stan says it is a sign Turkey is trying to comply with the
requirements of EU membership.

Mr. Babikian says the French bill is inspirational, but for the same
move to be adopted by Canadian parliamentarians, steps should be
taken to ensure compliance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and
the constitution.

"We will see how far the French version will go, what will happen in
France, then after that we will think about it," he says.

NDP foreign affairs critic Alexa McDonough says there’s no need to
introduce more laws on genocide in Canada since current legislation
is enough.

"We need to be reinforcing it through dialogue," says Ms. McDonough,
who in 2004 seconded a House of Commons motion recognizing that
genocide was committed against the Armenians.

brian@embassymag.ca

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