FRANCE: The French parliament passes a draft law which would make it illegal to deny genocide, sparking outrage in Turkey as it would also cover the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in Ottomon Turkey

Record ID: 327662

  • Title: FRANCE: The French parliament passes a draft law which would make it illegal to deny genocide, sparking outrage in Turkey as it would also cover the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in Ottomon Turkey
  • Date: 23rd December 2011
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (DECEMBER 22, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY WITH POLICE VEHICLES EXTERIOR OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY INTERIOR OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY WITH WAITING JOURNALISTS VARIOUS OF VOTE BEING SHOWED ON SCREENS DEPUTIES LEAVING JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, UMP DEPUTY CHRISTIAN JACOB SAYING: "We have to stay calm. Everyone knows the friendship that links us with Turkish people. But at the same time, the French National Assembly is sovereign here, just as the Turkish assembly is sovereign there too. And so this bill has nothing to do with the other law, the 'memorial' one was voted in 2001, and it was honourable for our country to vote it in. Today we are simply implementing a law which will allow us to put criminal sanctions on the non respect of the laws." JOURNALISTS IN PARLIAMENT VARIOUS OF FRENCH MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, VALERIE BOYER, INITIATOR OF THE BILL, TALKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, VALERIE BOYER, INITIATOR OF THE BILL, SAYING: "It was necessary to have this vote on this issue of genocides which are recognized by French law, so that we are able to punish legally those who deny the existence of these crimes and those who insult these crimes." BOYER, TALKING TO JOURNALISTS TURKISH PROTESTERS OUTSIDE THE PARLIAMENT, VARIOUS TURKISH PROTESTERS CHANTING, BEHIND POLICE LINES PROTESTERS WITH BANNERS PROTESTER WITH A TURKISH FLAG WALKING AWAY FROM THE PARLIAMENT BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 7th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France, France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1474MFIWT3PU8GNXZ4LQ2UTKD
  • Story Text: France took the first step on Thursday (December 22) to criminalising the denial of genocide, including the 1915 mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, a move that risks damaging Paris' diplomatic and commercial relations with Ankara.
    Tension has risen in the last week over the draft law put forward by members of President Nicolas Sarkozy's party with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warning Sarkozy there would be grave consequences if the bill passes.
    Lawmakers in the National Assembly - the lower house of parliament - voted overwhelmingly in favour of the bill, which will now be debated next year in the Senate.
    France, the cradle of human rights, passed a law recognising the killing of Armenians as genocide in 2001, when Turkey was in the midst of an economic crisis, and reacted in a similar vein. The French lower house first passed a bill criminalising the denial of an Armenian genocide in 2006, but it was finally rejected by the Senate in May of this year.
    The new bill was made more general to outlaw the denial of any genocide, partly in the hope of appeasing the Turks. It could still face a long passage into law, though its backers want to see it completed before parliament is suspended at the end of February ahead of elections in the second quarter.
    Lower House President Bernard Accoyer said on Wednesday he doubted the bill would pass by the end of parliament as the government had not made the bill priority legislation.
    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 One in a deliberate policy of genocide ordered by the Ottoman government.
    Successive Turkish governments and the vast majority of Turks feel the charge of genocide is a direct insult to their nation. Ankara argues that there was heavy loss of life on both sides during fighting in the area.
    Ankara considers the bill, originally proposed by 40 deputies from Sarkozy's party, a blatant attempt at winning the votes of 500,000 ethnic Armenians in France in next year's elections, limits freedom of speech and is an unnecessary meddling by politicians in a business best left to historians.
    The French government has stressed that the bill, which mandates a 45,000-euro fine and a year in jail for offenders, is not its own initiative and pointed out that Turkey cannot impose unilateral trade sanctions.
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