French Armenian genocide bill makes no sense-US
Fri 20 Oct 2006 14:45:50 BST
Reuters, UK
Oct 20 2006
BRUSSELS, Oct 20 (Reuters) – A French parliamentary bill that would
make it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered genocide at the
hands of Ottoman Turks in World War One makes no sense, a senior U.S.
official said on Friday.
Daniel Fried, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs,
said he backed French President Jacques Chirac’s opposition to the
bill, which has infuriated Turkey even though it may never become law.
"I certainly share the view that this legislation criminalising
discussion doesn’t seem to make any sense," Fried told a news briefing
in Brussels.
He said the United States and President George W. Bush had spoken out
repeatedly about the mass killings of Armenians during World War One
and did not want to minimise or deny them.
However, he added: "We as a government have never termed these events
genocide. We don’t use that word."
Fried said the United States would like to see Turks and Armenians
address the issue honestly and some Turks were already urging their
government to do so.
"It doesn’t strike me as clear that resolutions like this in the
French parliament are going to encourage this process."
Turkey denies claims that Armenians suffered genocide, arguing that
large numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks died in
a partisan conflict that raged as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
Given opposition from Chirac and the French Senate, the bill is
unlikely to become law but it has infuriated Turkey, where consumer
groups have called for a boycott of French-made goods.
France, which faces presidential elections next year, is home to
Europe’s largest Armenian diaspora.