FRENCH LAWMAKERS PASS LAW ON ARMENIANS
By ELAINE GANLEY, Associated Press 26 minutes ago
PARIS (AP) French lawmakers easily passed a measure Thursday to make it a crime in France to deny that the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 by Ottoman Turks amounted to genocide. State TV in Turkey, which had promised retaliation if the bill passed, said the country's ambassador to France would be withdrawn.
There was no official vote count in the ballot in France's lower house of parliament, with passage determined by a simple show of hands. The measure must still be passed in the Senate, where its fate is less clear.
The measure put France on a collision course with Turkey, a strategic ally and trading partner. Ankara reacted swiftly with state-run TV saying that Ambassador Tahsin Burcuoglu would be withdrawn. Turkey had threatened to remove its ambassador if French lawmakers did not desist and warned of "grave consequences" to political and economic ties.
Turkey vehemently rejects the term "genocide" for the World War I era-mass killings of Armenians, saying the issue should be left to historians. It contends that France is trampling freedom of expression and that President Nicolas Sarkozy is on a vote-getting mission ahead of April presidential elections.
An estimated half-million Armenians live in France and many have pressed to raise the legal statute regarding the massacres to the same level as the Holocaust by punishing denial of genocide.
France formally recognized the killings as genocide in 2001, but provided no penalty for anyone denying that. The bill sets a punishment of up to one year in prison and a fine of euro45,000 ($59,000) for those who deny or "outrageously minimize" the killings by Ottoman Turks, putting such action on a par with denial of the Holocaust.
"Our ancestors can finally rest in peace," said 75-year-old Maurice Delighazarian who said his grandparents on both sides were among the victims of the 1915 massacre.
Vaskel Avedissian, 25, said he spent time with Turkish demonstrators outside the National Assembly earlier Thursday and "These people have nothing against Armenians." But, he added, "Turkey is the spokesman for state negationism today."
Lawmakers denounced what they called Turkey's propaganda effort in a bid to sway them.
"Laws voted in this chamber cannot be dictated by Ankara," said Jean-Christophe Lagarde, a deputy from the New Center party, as Turks demonstrated outside the National Assembly ahead of the vote.
The bill's author said she was "shocked" at the attempt to interfere with the parliament's work.
"My bill doesn't aim at any particular country," said Valerie Boyer, a deputy from the ruling conservative UMP party. "It is inspired by European law, which says that the people who deny the existence of the genocides must be sanctioned."
An initial bid to punish denial of the Armenian genocide failed earlier this year, killed by the Senate five years after it was passed by the lower house.
French authorities have stressed the importance of bilateral ties with Turkey and the key role it plays in sensitive strategic issues as a member of NATO, in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
However, Sarkozy has long opposed the entry into the European Union of mostly Muslim Turkey, putting a constant strain on the two nations' ties.
Turkish authorities have weighed in with caustic remarks about France's past. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has recalled France's colonial history in Algeria and a 1945 massacre there, as well as its role in Rwanda, where some have claimed a French role in the 1994 genocide.
"Those who do want to see genocide should turn around and look at their own dirty and bloody history," Erdogan said last weekend. "Turkey will stand against this intentional, malicious, unjust and illegal attempt through all kinds of diplomatic means."
Turkish President Abdullah Gul spoke out on the issue this week, saying it will "put France in a position of a country that does not respect freedom of expression and does not allow objective scientific research."
Turkey insists the mass killings of Armenians up to 1.5 million, historians estimate occurred during civil unrest as the Ottoman Empire collapsed, with losses on both sides. Historians contend the Armenians were massacred in the first genocide of the 20th century.
France is pressing Turkey to own up to its history for the sake of "memory" just as the French have officially recognized the role of their state the collaborationist Vichy government in the deportation of Jews to Nazi death camps during World War II.
In October, Sarkozy visited Armenia and its capital of Yerevan, urging Turkey to recognize the 1915 killings as genocide.
"Turkey, which is a great country, would honor itself by revisiting its history like other countries in the world have done," Sarkozy said.
France, however, took its own time recognizing the state's role in the Holocaust. It was not until 1995 that then-President Jacques Chirac proclaimed France's active role in sending its citizens to death camps. And it was only in 2009 that his historic declaration was formally recognized in a ruling by France's top body, the Council of State.
Catherine Gaschka contributed to this article.
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
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Floowed by this jurky kneejurk. Jerks indeed!
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http://www.bbc.co.uk...europe-16297414
Turkey recalls envoy from France over 'genocide' bill
Armenians say up to 1.5m people were killed by the Ottoman Turks in 1915-16
Continue reading the main story
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The Turkish ambassador to France has been recalled in protest at a bill making it illegal to deny the mass killing of Armenians was genocide.
The National Assembly in Paris voted by a show of hands to back the bill by a large majority, and it will go before the Senate next year.
Turkey rejects the term "genocide" to describe the killing of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe publicly opposed the bill.
Under the bill, those publicly denying genocide would face a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros (£29,000: $58,000).
Armenians say up to 1.5m people were killed by the Ottoman Turks in 1915-16.
Ankara says closer to 300,000 people died, and that Turks were also killed as Armenians rose up against the Ottoman Empire when Russian troops invaded eastern Anatolia, now eastern Turkey.
More than 20 countries have formally recognised the killings as genocide.
'Denigrated'
Turkish TV announced the recall of the country's envoy in response to the bill.
Continue reading the main story
Turkey and the Armenians
Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians died during mass deportations by Ottoman Turks in 1915-6
More than 20 countries say it was genocide
Turkey and some historians say it was part of widespread turmoil in World War I in which Muslims also died
Estimated 500,000 ethnic Armenians now in France
Turkey closed Armenia border in 1993 because of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh
Turkey signed 2009 deal with Armenia to examine 1915 killings and open borders: ratified by neither side
Ambassador Tahsin Burcuoglu will leave France on Friday and further measures will be announced in Turkey by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Turkish embassy spokesman confirmed for French news agency AFP.
Earlier, Turkey's main political parties issued a joint statement condemning the bill, saying it "denigrates Turkish history".
There have been protests outside the French embassy in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he hoped France would "not step on a great and an old friendship and French values for political and electoral gains".
"But without question, no-one can expect us to keep silent and show no reaction," the Turkish minister told reporters.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian thanked the French parliament for supporting the bill.
"I would like to once again express my gratitude to France's top leadership, to the National Assembly, and to the French people," he told AFP in the Armenian capital Yerevan.
He added that France had "once again proved its commitment to universal human values".
'Counter-productive'
Mr Juppe criticised the proposed law, which follows France's formal recognition of the killings as genocide in 2001. No penalty was attached for denial at the time.
Mr Juppe told reporters it was a critical juncture in the Middle East and he emphasised the role Turkey had been playing in the Arab Spring, as well as the strong economic ties that existed between Turkey and France.
"It [the bill] is useless and counter-productive," he said.
"Passing laws in France won't change their minds in Turkey. We recognise the consequences. I would expect a robust Turkish response. The retaliation could have damaging and serious consequences."
His disapproval appears to be in direct conflict with the tacit support that has been given by President Nicolas Sarkozy to the bill, the BBC's Christian Fraser reports from Paris.
There are some half a million ethnic Armenians living in France and their vote is considered important in next year's presidential election, our correspondent notes.
The bill still needs the support of the Senate, which perhaps explains why the foreign minister is more than a little frustrated that his careful diplomacy of recent months is being upset by the posturing of one or two MPs, our correspondent says.
Edited by Arpa, 22 December 2011 - 10:44 AM.
