Uproar As French Parliament Shelves Vote On Armenian Genocide

[Lev7]

Uproar As French Parliament Shelves Vote On Armenian Genocide

 

By Emma Charlton, Agence France Presse

 

Angry scenes broke out in the French National Assembly on Thursday after

lawmakers were forced to call off a vote on a bill that would make it a

punishable offence to deny the Armenian genocide.

 

Debate on the opposition bill -- which has sparked a diplomatic row

between France and Turkey -- started late, and the time allocated for

its discussion ran out before a vote could take place. Discussion of the

controversial text will now be pushed back to October at the earliest,

under the parliamentary calendar.

 

Shouts filled the assembly as the bill's supporters accused members of

the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) of stalling debate. Dozens

of lawmakers ` angrily yelling "Vote! Vote!" -- had to be evacuated from

the building after the leader of the assembly declared the session

closed.

 

Earlier Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy came out openly against the bill,

which follows on from a 2001 French law officially recognizing the

Turkish massacres of Armenians at the end of World War I as genocide.

"If adopted, this text would be seen as an unfriendly gesture by the

great majority of the Turkish people," he told lawmakers, warning its

adoption would have "serious political consequences and weaken our

position not only in Turkey but across the entire region."

 

"Turkey is a leading economic and trade partner... We cannot accept this

bill," Douste-Blazy said.

 

The bill would make punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine

of 45,000 euros (57,000 dollars) the crime of denying that Turkish

troops committed genocide against the Armenians. The same punishment is

on the statute books for people who deny that the Jewish Holocaust took

place.

 

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- backed by Turkish

business leaders and unions -- appealed this month to France to block

the contentious new bill, warning of the threat to bilateral relations.

Ankara briefly recalled its ambassador from Paris for consultations this

month, amid rising tensions over the bill.

 

While the 2001 law was passed when the Socialist Party had a majority in

the National Assembly, the new bill could only pass with support from

ruling party deputies ` who had been given a free vote on the text. The

bill has provoked divisions within both the UMP and the Socialist Party.

Former Socialist minister Jack Lang said it would "undermine the efforts

of those in Turkey who are trying to bring Ankara to recognize its

history", and warned against a trend towards "criminalizing public

expression".

 

There has been much critical discussion recently in France about

so-called "historical" laws which seek to authorize an official version

of past events. In January President Jacques Chirac asked for a

controversial law recognizing the "positive role" of colonialism to be

struck off the statute books.

[Z'areh]

I am not that unhappy with what happened in France today. for one thing, the Turkish government's actions simply brings the Armenian Genocide issue to the forefront and major news media cover the news in their front pages, this is not a bad news to me at all.

 

Secondly, bringing major Western European societies to heated debates about their own delamas and actions vis a vis what a governemnt sees as "national interests" and what the societies regard as a question of dignity and defence of truth is a coup for us and only good can come out of these debates.

 

Thirdly, if Turkish blackmail is so effective that can force the Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy to come out and declare to the nation that Turkey can really hurt France then what does that say about Turkish-French "friendship", what friendship can thrive on threats, if France gives way to such threats today what will Turkey's influence and power be when and if she becomes a member of the EU with equal or more rights in Europe.

 

I am quite happy for Turkey having the chance to promote herself.

 

But the most amusing part must be French Turks demonstrating in Paris demending "saving" of freedom of speech.

 

excellent!!