Epress.am News from Armenia
By adopting the bill to penalize denial of the Armenian Genocide, the French National Assembly will condemn history to a one-sided narrative and criminalize freedom of expression, believes Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu, who wrote a lengthy piece published by Today’s Zaman on Wednesday on what might happen if this bill is approved.
“In the event that the French National Assembly opts to adopt the bill, my logic will simply not accept that when I come to Paris and express my views about the history of my country, I, as the minister of foreign affairs, will be in a position to violate the laws of a country which has so far been the cradle of freedom of expression. Or, when thousands of members of the Turkish community living in France run to the streets to chant the slogan “There was no genocide” in protest of the attempt to stigmatize the forehead of their nation to which they are deeply attached, are the French authorities considering stopping and punishing those thousands of people? The fact that this bill will be discussed in the National Assembly on Dec. 22, the same day on which Turkish diplomat Yılmaz Çolpan was assassinated in Paris by the Armenian terrorist organization ASALA in 1979, inevitably raises the question of whether this day was specifically chosen to satisfy the terrorist mindset that led to the murder of our diplomat,” he writes.
Davutoglu then goes on to note that this legislative initiative was flawed from the beginning. “A state that dictates to its own society what it should not say through laws and dogmas also dictates to the society what it ought to say, and this is where the real danger lies.”
In the foreign minister’s opinion, at times like these, political interests and the perception of power “prove to be far more important than the reality and pursuit of justice.”
He then raises a number of questions:
Can history be reduced to calculations and personal judgments based on simple political interests and perception of power?
Who should decide the relationship between history and law and how should it do so?
Is it a function of parliament to judge history and prevailing politics over history?
If you maintain that a historical event remains as a fact or a reality but not an opinion or a judgment, then why do you feel the urge to silence those who object to your version of reality — that is, views on history and just memory — by law?
Why do you prevent historians and scientists from considering, researching and analyzing historical events? Why would you wish to destroy an environment of open discussion and above all why are you doing it now?
Is it a function of the state to mete out dogmas to society and to impose the way people should think?
“I would still like to appeal to the French public and the National Assembly: Instead of silencing history, let historical truths be discussed. You know very well that whatever the laws dictated by domestic politics the truth cannot be silenced, and ultimately only the voice of truth will be the loudest and resonate more,” he concludes.
Since France officially recognized the genocide in 2001, French governments have attempted to introduce penalties for denying the Armenian Genocide several times, all of which were turned down before gaining full force.
This new bill, which mandates a 45,000-euro fine and a year in jail for offenders, was made more general to outlaw denial of any genocide recognized as such by the French state, partly in the hopes of appeasing Turks, reports the Toronto Sun. While it is very likely to be approved by the lower house today, it could also face a long passage into law, though its backers want to see it completed before parliament is suspended at the end of February.