ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT REJECTS ARF BILL CRIMINALIZING GENOCIDE DENIAL
Asbarez Staff
Nov 16th, 2009
Legislation Aimed at Curbing Consequences of Turkey’s Historical
Commission
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-A key committee of the National Assembly effectively
rejected on Friday a proposal by the opposition Armenian Revolutionary
Federation to criminalize public statements denying that the Armenian
Genocide.
Armenia’s Criminal Code already carries heavy fines and up to four
years’ imprisonment for public denial of genocides and "other crimes
against humanity." An amendment tabled by the ARF last month would
extend the maximum punishment to five years and apply it to anyone
"denying, playing down, approving or justifying the genocide of
Armenians in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia."
The bill is directly connected with the recent agreements to normalize
Armenia’s relations with Turkey that have been strongly condemned
by the party. They ARF says it is specifically directed against a
Turkish-Armenian "subcommission" of historians envisaged by one of
the agreements.
The commission would be tasked with studying the extermination of the
Ottoman Empire’s indigenous Armenian population. The ARF and other
critics of the deal say the very existence of such a body would call
into question the fact of the genocide, a claim denied by Armenia’s
authorities.
In a written opinion submitted to the Armenian parliament committee
on legal affairs this week, the Ministry of Justice objected to the
ARF bill and essentially upheld the existing Criminal Code clause
relating to genocide denial. The committee on Friday postponed the
bill’s consideration by at least two months, meaning that the proposed
amendment will not reach the parliament floor before February.
The committee chairman, David Harutiunian, made no secret of his strong
opposition to the measure, saying that it would create "extremely
serious problems" in the ongoing Turkish-Armenian negotiations. He
said its passage would lead the Turkish authorities to resume heavy
enforcement of a controversial law that makes it a crime to "insult
the Turkish nation." The law, superficially amended last year, has
been used in the prosecution of prominent Turks who have questioned
the official Turkish version of the events of 1915.
Harutiunian also argued that amendment drafted by the ARF was
unnecessary because "Armenia’s position on this issue is so strong
that we don’t need any additional tools of defense in the shape of
criminal liability," the former justice minister said at a committee
meeting. "The stronger party doesn’t need such tools."
"I don’t see that confidence about our strength," Vahan Hovannisian,
the leader of the ARF faction in the parliament, countered, referring
to President Serzh Sarkisian’s conciliatory policy towards Turkey. He
said the October 10 signing of the Turkish-Armenian protocols in
Zurich was "a sign of weakness" on the part of Yerevan.