HUBERT HAENEL: FRENCH SENATE WILL NEVER PASS BILL CRIMINALIZING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL
PanARMENIAN.Net
24.10.2008 14:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The French Senate "will never adopt the bill
criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide," a prominent leader
in the Senate said.
In 2006, the French National Assembly adopted the bill criminalizing
the Armenian Genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. The bill
was blocked by the Senate, but the vote in the lower house of the
parliament dealt a blow to bilateral relations between Turkey and
France.
"The issue is closed. The Senate will never adopt this law," said
Hubert Haenel, president of the Senate’s Commission for European Union
Affairs when addressing a seminar titled "The Republic in France and
Turkey" at Bilgi University in Istanbul.
He said the atmosphere between the two countries had changed,
implying also that there was a different conjecture that would also
make it difficult for the Senate to make a decision that would damage
bilateral relations, the Turkish Daily News reports.