Tensions between France and Turkey are rising with news that France’s lower house of Parliament went ahead with a bill making it a crime to deny that the killings of Armenians in Turkey in the early 20th century was genocide.
French lawmakers on Thursday approved a bill making it a crime to deny that mass killings of Armenians in Turkey during and after World War I amounted to genocide.
Deputies in the National Assembly voted 106-19 for the bill, which has prompted outrage in Turkey and embarrassed the French government. The issue has become intertwined with Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union.
The bill, which was introduced by the opposition Socialists, must still be passed by the Senate and be signed by President Jacques Chirac.
France’s minister for European affairs, Catherine Colonna, said just before the vote that the government did not look favorably on the bill.
“It is not for the law to write history,” she said in parliament.The French bill would recognize the killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1919 as genocide, and those who contest genocide would risk up to a year in prison and fines of up to €45,000 (US$56,000).
It’s an issue that doesn’t only touch on history. The French government fears the law could sandbag relations with Turkey — and the issue is a stumbling block to Turkey entering into the European Union:
The vote threatens to harm relations with Turkey, after the Turkish government warned French lawmakers not to approve the bill. “If this draft law is approved, Turkey will lose nothing, but France will first of all lose Turkey,” Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said in televised comments late yesterday.
“Turkey has no lesson to teach us on the repression of opinions,” Patrick Devedjian, a French lawmaker of the governing UMP party of Armenian descent, said in the National Assembly today, in a reference to a Turkish law used to prosecute writers who challenge Turkey’s denial of the genocide. “The Turkish government is very hypocritical.”
The European Union says Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge that 1.5 million Armenians were massacred during World War I clouds the nation’s bid for membership. Accession talks began a year ago. Turkey denies Armenian allegations of genocide, saying tens of thousands of ethnic Turks and Armenians were killed after Armenian groups sided with Russia in the war.
The lower chamber of Parliament’s action on this bill has not been viewed favorably in Turkey:
“Deception, sadness, tragedy.” The united Turkish sentiment as France voted on the Armenia genocide bill. Protestors have gathered outside the French Embassy in Ankara to show their outrage. Some feel the law is being pushed through by French politicians who are against Turkey entering the European Union. French President Jacques Chirac has said Turkey should recognise the genocide before its membership is approved.
It is a hot topic in Ankara’s media which refers to French stupidity. Turkish Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan has told France to examine its own colonial history instead. There has been talk of the country retaliating with its own legislation which would criminalise French killings in Algeria in 1945. Retaliation is also happening on a commercial level in Turkey, where French businesses are being boycotted.
Official reaction wasn’t positive, either:
A French parliamentary vote supporting a bill on the alleged genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks has dealt Turkish-French ties a severe blow, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
“French-Turkish relations, which have developed over centuries… have been dealt a blow today as a result of the irresponsible false claims of French politicians who do not see the political consequences of their actions,” the ministry said in a statement.
Opposition to the French bill was clear earlier this year when Turkish protestors demonstrated in Lyon against a monument erected to commemorate the victims of the Armenian genocide.
The prominent French newspaper Le Monde had asked its lawmakers not to approve the bill:
In an editorial, the newspaper termed the draft to penalize anyone who denies the purported Armenian genocide as an “inappropriate discussion� and said that politicians must not act as ministries of truth.
Before the critical session, Le Monde’s lead editorial column was on the draft bill submitted by France’s Socialist Party.
Pointing out this initiative divided all political parties within themselves, the newspaper said the bill would most probably pass but it would never come to the agenda of the senate, which is the next step before the bill becomes law.
In the article, it is said the purported Armenian genocide is not equal to the Jewish genocide and denying the Jewish genocide was a kind of anti-Semitism that is penalized by the French law as racism. Le Monde said this had nothing to do with the so-called Armenian genocide.
Reiterating that the so-called Armenian genocide had no place in the penal code, Le Monde said “This is the memory work of the Turkish nation.�
Quoting Nicolas Sarkozy, who supports the bill, the editorial read “Freedom of expression is not manipulating history nor denying historical evidence,� Le Monde replied to the ruling party leader as follows: “Freedom of expression is neither taking the history and the Armenian case hostage for political goals.�
Addressing the politicians, Le Monde said “We hope deputies will not vote for this bill and correct this wrong step.�
Even if it doesn’t become law, the controversy is likely to rage due to emotions still swirling around what happened to the Armenians and the Turkish government’s official stance today.
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.