OSCE PRESS FREEDOM WATCHDOG URGES FRENCH SENATE TO REJECT ARMENIA GENOCIDE BILL

Associated Press Worldstream
October 17, 2006 Tuesday 5:46 PM GMT

The press freedom watchdog at a key European security organization
on Tuesday urged the French Senate to reject a bill that would make
it a crime to deny that mass killings of Armenians in Turkey in the
World War I-era amounted to genocide, a statement said.

Miklos Haraszti, media freedom representative at the Vienna-based
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, made his plea in
a letter sent to Christian Poncelet, president of the French Senate,
according to the statement.

"I acknowledge the humanitarian intentions of those members of
the Assembly who support this proposal. However, the adoption of
the amendment raises serious concerns with regard to international
standards of freedom of expression," Haraszti wrote.

The bill was approved by lawmakers in France’s lower house last week,
but still needs approval by the French Senate and President Jacques
Chirac to become law. Turkey has said the decision has badly damaged
relations with France.

"Both the fact of criminalization of statements, and the severity
of the sanctions would infringe upon editorial freedom in France,"
Haraszti wrote. "The adoption of the amendment by France, a nation
with a long-standing tradition of freedom of expression, could set
a dangerous precedent for other nations of the OSCE."

The Armenia genocide issue has become intertwined with ongoing debate
in France and across Europe about whether to admit mostly Muslim Turkey
into the European Union. France is home to hundreds of thousands of
people whose families came from Armenia.