Epress.am News from Armenia
After a lengthy debate, the French Senate voted late Monday to criminalize any public denial of the Armenian Genocide, while hundreds of Turks and Armenians demonstrated outside.
The move, however, triggered fresh condemnation from modern Turkey. Relations between France and Turkey have already deteriorated since the National Assembly — the lower house of the French parliament — voted to approve the bill in December. The Turkish government called Monday’s vote “an example of irresponsibility” and vowed to “express our reaction against it in every platform,” CNN reports.
It is already illegal in France to deny the Holocaust of World War II, a crime punishable by a year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros ($58,500). The same punishment would be used under the Armenian legislation.
Before the vote, Sen. Herve Marseille, one of the bill’s supporters, argued that since France already recognizes the Ottoman-era killings as genocide, the same standard that applies to Holocaust denial should apply to the Armenian case.
“When we contest the Jewish genocide, we can be punished,” Marseille said. “And up until now, when we contest the Armenian genocide, there is no punishment. So we can’t have a legal punishment for one and not for the other. Everyone is equal in front of the law.”
But Sen. Jacques Mézard, who opposed the legislation, said freedom of expression was at stake.
“It calls into question historical and scientific research. Tomorrow will there be a question of a Vendée genocide?” he asked, referring to a revolt against the French revolutionary government in 1793. “Will we put the Spanish and the United States in the stocks for the massacre of Native Americans? We must reject this text and consign it to history books.”
Monday night’s 127-86 vote sends the legislation to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has indicated he would sign it. Armenia’s government hailed the vote, saying France “reaffirmed its pivotal role as a genuine defender of universal human values.” But Turkey, one of France’s NATO allies, called it “an entirely unfortunate step for French politics.”
Armenian advocacy groups around the globe push regularly for official recognition of the genocide. Nineteen nations, including France, have granted that recognition, as has the European Union. Slovenia and Switzerland treat denial of the genocide as a crime.