Latest update: 24/01/2012 

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French Senate passes bill outlawing genocide denial

French Senate passes bill outlawing genocide denial

France's Senate has passed a bill outlawing the denial of a genocide that has been recognised by French law, namely the Holocaust or the 1915-1916 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks. Turkey had threatened to impose sanctions if the bill passed.

By FRANCE 24 / News Wires (text)
 

France and Turkey headed for a major diplomatic rift on Monday after French senators ignored threats from Ankara and approved a law outlawing the public denial of genocides.

The draft law passed by the Senate makes it illegal for anyone to deny that the mass killing of ethnic Armenians at the hands of Ottaman Turks in 1915 amounted to genocide.

Under the law public denial would be punished by a year’s jail sentence and a €45,000 fine.

The vote, which came after an eight-hour debate, is now likely to incite the wrath of Turkey who had earlier threatened to impose “permanent” sanctions against Paris if the law was passed.

Reacting to the vote, Engin Solakoglu, a spokesman for the Turkish Embassy in Paris, told FRANCE 24 his country would not tolerate anymore “Turkey bashing” from France.

“It is very sad to see such a law passed by the French Senate,” he said.

“Every time there are elections in France, a kind of Turkey bashing becomes a national sport. We cannot take this anymore,” Solakoglu added, accusing French politicians of meddling with "our history".

'Permanent sanctions'

Speaking before the vote, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told FRANCE 24 “permanent sanctions” would be imposed against France if senators sanctioned the bill.

FRANCE 24 interview with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu

He said the proposed law was an affront to freedom of expression that would make him a criminal for openly discussing an “historical tragedy”.

“If I am asked a question by a journalist, how could I remain silent?” he asked. “This bill would punish me for having an opinion on an historical event. It goes against all European and French values of freedom of expression.”

Davutoglu accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is languishing in the polls ahead of elections in May, of using the bill to gain approval from France’s significant Armenian population of some 500,000 voters.

“The painful history of Armenians and Turks is being used … for political opportunism and against the basic values of politics,” he said.

Reacting to the result, Esra Bulut Aymat, a senior research fellow at the EU Institute for Security Studies, said: "While many French citizens may see this as a principled stand, many Turkish citizens, already wary of President Sarkozy's opposition to Turkish membership of the EU, may interpret it primarily as anti-Turkish pre-electoral populist opportunism.”

Senators did win the backing of some Armenian groups.

“This law will bring the Armenian issue to a different international forum,” said Berge Setrakian, President of the Armenian General Benevolent UNION (AGBU), speaking to FRANCE 24 from New York.

“The major powers will focus more on this issue and hopefully now we can try and find a solution with Turkey. This will be good for Turkey too because they have been in a permanent state of denial about it.”

Setrakian accepted the fallout from the bill could have a detrimental effect on Armenia’s own relations with their neighbours.

“I think it is most likely Turkey will retaliate and render our lives more difficult, but this is a price the Armenians are willing to pay.”

A disputed history

The draft law means any public denial of genocides recognised by the French state would be outlawed, including the Second World War Holocaust and the massacre of ethnic Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915.

France’s lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, had already approved the bill in a vote on December 23, 2011. That vote had prompted Turkey to recall its ambassador for consultations.

France officially recognised the Armenian killings as genocide in 2001. The new bill would punish denial with a year’s jail and a fine of up to 45,000 euros.

President Sarkozy is expected to ratify the bill in February before the closure of parliament in the run up to the presidential elections.

Armenia, backed by many historians and parliaments, says about 1.5 million Christian Armenians were killed in what is now eastern Turkey during World War I, in a deliberate policy of genocide ordered by the Ottoman government.

The Ottoman empire was dissolved soon after the end of World War I, but successive Turkish governments and the vast majority of Turks feel the charge of genocide is a direct insult to their nation. Ankara argues there was heavy loss of life on both sides during fighting in the area.

Thousands of Turks from across Europe demonstrated in central Paris at the weekend and about 200 Franco-Turks protested on Monday in front of the Senate. They waved their French voting cards and banners with slogans including: “It’s not up to politicians to invent history”.

Sarkozy tried to calm tensions before the vote by writing to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan last week saying the bill did not single out any country. He said that Paris was aware of the “suffering endured by the Turkish people” during the final years of the Ottoman empire.

 

 

 

Comments (12)

genocide denial as a crime,a law passed by France

It seems to me because of the corageous Armenians in France had a lot to do with the subject matter. It is time for the United States Armenians to stand up and do the same.It will be up to all Armenian organizations should do their part.

Armenian thesis is denied by the Armenian ancestors themselves

The ancestors of the Armenians who made their history are the real deniers. As you know, whoever disagree with the Armenian genocide claims are labelled as ‘deniers’, as ‘agents of Turkish government’, or ‘people hired by the Turkish government’ or ‘disingenous scholars/authorities’ Turkish nationalists’, ‘Turkish racists’. And, here are the names of Armenians who comply with the these terms:
“Garo Pasdermichan (Pastirmaciyan), the Ottoman deputy of Erzurum and commander of all the Armenian officials and soldiers of the Ottoman Third Army which joined the Russian Army in 1914, was the main denier and Turkish racist. Because, he wrote in his book ‘Why Armenia Should Be Free’ (Boston, Dec.1918, Hairenik Publishing Company p. 16-17) that annual Congress of Armenian Party Dashnagzoutiun was held in Erzurum in August 1914, before the war broke, and Turkish emissaries offered Dashnaks an autonomous Armenia (made up of Russian Armenia and the three Turkish vilayets of Erzurum, Van and Bitlis) under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire’, if they joined the Turkish side and stopped supporting the Russians. He also stated that the executive committee of the Dashnagzoutiun rejected the proposal! The Armenian members of this parley were the well-known publicist E.Aknouni, the representative from Van, A.Vramian, and the director of the Armenian schools in the district of Erzurum, Mr Rostom.

Another main denier was Boghos Noubar Pasha, the Armenian National Delegation President in The Paris Peace Conference 1919 who also stated that the Turks offered them autonomy in August 1914, much before the deportation, but they rejected this proposal and placed themselves without hesitation on the side of the Entente Powers from whom they expected liberation [Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States The Paris Peace Conference 1919 (United States Government Printing Office, 1948, Vol IV, p 139-157)].

Armenian Boghos Noubar Pasha, who told that ‘150 000 Armenian volunteers in Russian Army were the only forces against Turks’ (Times of London , 1919 Jan 30 Link: http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2007/10/2013-150-000-armenian-volunte...) was obviously a denier and agent of Turkish government.

Hovannes Katchaznouni, the first prime-minister of the Armenian state founded in 1918 and the prime authority of the Dashnagzoutiun Party who wrote a book ‘Dashnagzoutiun Has Nothing to do Anymore’ was also another chief denier. Because, in his book which is banned in Armenia at present, he stated that
*it was a mistake to establish the volunteer units.
*They were unconditionally allied with Russia,
*They massacred the Moslem population,
*The Armenian terrorist acts were directed, at winning the Western public opinion.
*British occupation aroused hopes of the Dashnaks,
*They were provoked by imperial Sea to Sea land demand,
*They had not taken into consideration Turkey’s power,
* They should have used a peaceful language towards the Turks but they (Armenian Dashnaks) rejected the Turks who suggested to negotiate with them and they went on making war
(KS Papazian the writer of ‘Patriotism Perverted’ published in 1934, in Boston, also confirms this Turkish suggestion. Note that ‘Patrionism Perverted’ is banned in Armenia).
*The decision of the deportation of Armenians was a rightful measure taken by Turks.
*Turkey had acted with an instinct of self-defence.
*Their government was a Dashnak dictatorship.
*The fault was within the Dashnak Party. They should commit suicide. They had nothing to do.
Vratsyan, the last prime minister of Dashnaks who wrote in an article published in December 3 1920 issue of Araç, that they transformed Armenia to an arenna of endless wars with its neighbours for the Entente Powers (RGASPİ fond 80, list 4, file 83, sheet 136) was another chief denier and agent of Turkish government.
Armenian Messrs. Ahonian and Hadissian who were the spokesmen of the Armenian delegation of the New Armenian Republic and visited Sultan Mehmet VI, Vahdeddin in Istanbul on September 6, 1918 were also Turkish nationalists. See the telegram sent by Mr Ahorian to the Armenian Prime Minister Kachaznuni:
‘On September 6th, when we were in Selamlik we had an audience. We presented our congratulations on his accession to the throne. We submitted our best wishes for the development of the Empire and its well-being. We stated that the Armenian nation would never forget that it was the Ottoman Government which first conceived the idea of founding an independent Armenia, and recognized it, that the Armenian Government would do everything possible to protect friendly relations between the two countries and to strengthen them. His Majesty thanked us. He stated that he was very happy at seeing the envoys of independenbt and free Armenia, that he wished not only her development , but that she be strong in order to retain her independence. His Majesty is entirely convinced that friendly relations will always exist between the two neighboring countries, Turkey and Armenia, in order that both of them may develop. He concluded his remarks by stating that he was very hapy to see that Armenia had the strength to found an independent state which was able to send envoys to Istanbul, and repeated his best wishes for our country’. (Erich Feigl, A Myth of Terror, Edition Zeitgeschichte Freilassing, Salzburg, Austria p.97)
The Armenian Soviet historian A.A.Lalayan who stated that the Dashnaks displayed extreme courage to massacre Turkish women, children and ill and old people (Contrarevolyutsionnıy ‘Daşnaktsutyun’ İ İmperialisti-çeskaya Voyna 1914-1918 gg.’, Revolyutsionnıy Vostok, No.2-3, p.92, 1936) and who also quoted the following report of a Dashnag officer, Aslem Varaam written in 1920, in Beyazit-Varan was an Armenian denier and he was also hired by the Turkish government . The report of Aslem Varaam was
"I exterminated the Turkish population in Bashar-Gechar without making any exceptions. One some times feels the bullets shouldn't be wasted. So, the most effective way against these dogs is to collect the people who have survived the clashes and dump them in deep holes and crush them under heavy rocks pressed from above, not to let them inhabit this world any longer. So I did accordingly. I collected all the women, men and children and extinguished their lives in the deep holes I dumped them into, crushing them with rocks."
A.Lalayan, Revolutsionniy Vostok (Revolutionary East) No: 2-3, p.92 vd, Moscow, 1936; Istoricheskie Zapisky No 2, p.101, 1928
Armenian T. Haçikoğlyan who told that the Dashnaks eradicated thousands of Turks with their bloody hands (T. Haçikoglyan, 10 Let Armyanskoy Sttrelkovoy Divizii,p4-6. İzdatelstvo Polit. Uprav. KKA, Tiflis, 1930) was also a denier and agent of Turkish government.
The Armenian poet Mikael Nalbandyan who wrote these lines in his poem ‘The March of People of Zeytun, was another denier and Turkish nationalist:
‘..Şad ısdrugner yeğan azad/Miyayin menk mnank hılu hıbadag/Zeytuntsiner mer zposank/E baderazm yev arşavank/ Sur, tur, kıntag yev hıratsan/ Mer khağalikın en havidyan….’
(A lot of slaves were set free/ Only we were left who were obedient/Amusements of us, people of Zeytun are/ War and raid/ Our inexhaustible toys are/ Sword, saber, bullet and gun…….) (Nor Knar, p99). Zeytun was one of the places where the Armenians rebelled and massacred the Turks and Muslims.
KS Papazian the writer of ‘Patriotism Perverted’ published in 1934, in Boston was also a denier. Because:
Papazian critized A. Khatisian and the then prime minister S.Vratzian for not publishing the text of Treaty of Gümrü which they signed on December 2, 1920 to put an end to the war between Turkey and the Armenian Republic on December 2, 1920, which coincided with the entrance of Bolsheviks in Armenia.
Papazian also stated that the Armenian prime minister Simon Vratzian applied to the Turkish government on March 18, 1921 and asked military help of the Turks against the Bolsheviks!
Even Gourgen Mıgırdıç Yanıkyan (age 78), the Armenian murderer of Los Angeles prime consul of Turkey Mehmet Baydar (age 49) and the co consul Bahadır Demir (age 30) in Santa Barbara, in 1973, was a real denier, Turkish nationalist and agent of Turkish government. Because he admitted in his trial on June 13, 1973, via his attorney Lindsay that he (Yanıkyan) had been a member of an army made up of 10 000 volunteers to fight against the Turks in Armenia, in the beginning of March 1915 and in chief of this army had been an Armenian general called Andranik. This had been prepared as four parties and had started to battle with the Turks in Iğdır, under the leadership of Russian general Dron and had proceeded to Van,
they had occupied Van and meanwhile had destroyed and had fired Turkish villages (Dışişleri Bakanlığı

Of course, even these few examples give great harm to the present Armenian thesis and lead people to question the Armenian’s innocence, their predominance in Ottoman population, and most importantly their genocide thesis. Of course, the fact that Turks offered the Dashnaks an autonomous Armenia (made up of Russian Armenia and the three Turkish vilayets of Erzurum, Van and Bitlis) under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire’, if they joined the Turkish side and stopped supporting the Russians, the other fact that the executive committee of the Dashnagzoutiun rejected the proposal in August 1914 before the war broke and that they rejected all other Turkish calls of negotiations repeated during WWI too, are the major points that are not wanted by the Armenians to be known (Garo Pastırmacıan, Why Armenia Should be Free?, Boston, Dec.1918, Hairenik Publishing Company p. 16-17 and Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States The Paris Peace Conference 1919 , United States Government Printing Office, 1948, Vol IV, p 139-157).
Of course they fear a question of why the Turks did offer autonomy to Armenians if they decided to eradicate them.
And they fear the question of why and how the Armenian prime minister Simon Vratzian applied the Turkish government on March 18, 1921 and asked military help of the Turks against the Bolsheviks, in spite of the fact that the Turks committed a (so-called) genocide and murdered 1.5 million Armenians!
And they also are very frightened of the question how the Ottoman Government eradicated 1,5 million of Armenians but in spite of this it was the Ottomans who first conceived the idea of founding an independent Armenia, and recognized it first. Moreover, it was the Ottoman Sultan who first wished not only the development of Armenian Republic, but that she be strong in order to retain her independence! Astonishingly, it was the Ottoman Sultan, who stated that friendly relations would always exist between the two neighboring countries

That is, the Armenian ancestors who created their history (the top representatitives of the Ottoman Armenians, Dashnags and prime ministers of Armenia), the Armenian historians and poets who wittnessed this period and even the Armenian murderers of Turkish diplomats are the main deniers!

So, it is not surprising that both the book of Hovannes Katchaznouni, the first prime-minister of the Armenian state, ‘Dashnagzoutiun Has Nothing to do Anymore’ and the book of K.S.Papazian ‘Patrionism Perverted’ are banned in Armenia. It is also a fact that all the copies of the book of Hovannes Katchaznouni, in all languages were collected from the libraries in Europe by Dashnags. The book is included in the catalogues but no copies can be found in the racks.
It is not surprising either that, the Armenians even claim that nobody called A.A. Lalayan, the Soviet-Armenian historian, ever lived!
Yes, they can ban the books of the makers of their history, they can buy politicians by their votes and urge them to accept historical resolutions and memorial laws in their parliaments, they can threaten the historians who do not support their thesis, they can sue them, they can even bomb their houses as they did before (http://209.232.239.37/gtd1/ViewIncident.aspx?id=56624) but they can never ban scholar thought and silence the historians of the world!

Note that Pierre Nora, president of the association ‘Liberty for history’ founded in 2005, has recently stated that the history should not be a slave to currency or written under the dictation of competing memoirs; in a free state, it does not belong to any political authority to define the historical truth and restrict freedom of the historian under threat of criminal sanctions. In a democracy, freedom for history is the freedom of all (http://www.lph-asso.fr//articles/46.html, . http://www.lph-asso.fr//tribunes/49.html)

Now do you understand why the Armenians vehemently resist the establishment of historical joint commissions made up of historians from Armenia, Turkey and other countries?
Do you understand why Prof Richard Hovannisian from California University (the father of the first Foreign Minister of Armenia) said: ‘It is very dangerous to establish such an historical commission…’ in an interview with Armenian Reporter? http://www.kophaber.com/news_detail.php?id=4726
Do you understand why the Armenians have not admitted to International Court of Justice for more than 90 years and why they urge politicians to write their history as they want?

misleading law

Sinan, it is not the article that is misleading it is the law. We know in reality it only includes the denial of Armenian Genocide but the law does not specify it just states 'denial of genocides'. IT was a ridiculous measure by Senators to try and calm Turkish anger by not singling them out. Stupid and was never going to work but that's the reality.

Blame the French politicians for this mess. It's ridiculous.

Misleading article from France24

Your article is misleading on several fronts, including the statement...

"The draft law means any public denial of genocides recognised by the French state would be outlawed, including the Second World War Holocaust and the massacre of ethnic Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915."

There are no other acts of genocide recognized by law in France, so the word "including" in this context is absurd as the law exclusively applies to these two contexts. Furthermore, as Holocaust denial was already illegal in France, the new law only applies to the deaths of Armenians in 1915. Denial of the Armenian massacres of Turks, or "suffering endured by the Turkish people" as Sarkozy puts it, remains perfectly legal in France.

Outlawing Genocide Denial

The French government wants to outlaw genocide denial, but it is OK to deport Roma?

Great news

There is absolutely no reason for Tukey to do any business with a country that passes laws based on getting votes for a looser president. Turkey has no need for France. Let's see hat impact it's going to happen on French companies. Maybe the Greeks or the Portugese or the Italian markets will be enough?
LOL

Disagree

I find it hard to believe that the people known for freedom of ideals and beliefs would impose such a law purely for political gain.

Vive La France

Vive La France

War?

What were french people doing in Anatolia during 1915-1920?

The moral and truth of the

The moral and truth of the France decision, was well given on Armenian genocide denial law.

French Senate passed' Genocide Bill' Jan.23.2012

This genocide bill was long overdue. Armenians finally have their genocide acknowledged by France- it is never too late. Merci beaucoup France. France is right and present Turkish g'ment has shown that their totalitarian bullying tactics and threats do not work.

freedom of speech

Yes, where is it? That is how France desires to see itself in 21th century?

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