PanARMENIAN.Net
Is Russia to follow France in passing the bill on criminalization of
the denial of the Armenian Genocide?
In the USSR mentioning the Armenian Genocide committed in the Ottoman
Empire has been banned for a rather long time.
27.09.2007 GMT+04:00
Russia may join the countries where the public denial of certain
historical facts will be regarded as criminal offence. `Certain
historical facts’ have been indicated by the innovation initiator, the
Speaker of the Russian State Duma Boris Gryzlov. The point is in
criminal prosecution of those justifying the crime committed by Nazis
during the years of the Great Patriotic War. According to the
commentator of `Mayak’ Radio Station Andrey Svetenko, the Armenian
Genocide committed in the Ottoman Empire should also be ranked among
such historical facts.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `One of the relevant examples is the adoption of the
law by the French Parliament on criminal liability for denying the
Armenian Genocide committed in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire. However the
point is that the citizens of Turkey in most cases don’t recognize the
Armenian Genocide as a Historical Fact. They say that there had been
no persecutions on ethnic grounds, but liquidation of traitors, who
had assisted to the enemy; the Russian army during the war in some
way, although there were more than million of them, including babies
and helpless old men and women. This is indeed negation of
negation. And in this regard Gryzlov’s suggestion is a step towards
the right path. Facts are facts. One shouldn’t put up with someone who
tries to call black another color,’ assures Svetenko.
The initiative of the Russian legislators is quite understandable and
even predictable. On the one hand, it is their strong desire to be
integrated into the system of the global values and respect to the
human rights, and on the other hand, it is the necessity to recognize
the historical facts, which have not been spoken about in the Soviet
Times. It is no secret that in the USSR mentioning the Armenian
Genocide committed in the Ottoman Empire has been banned for a rather
long time and that only in 1965 under the pressure of the Armenian
Community of the Armenian SSR `it was allowed’ to commemorate April 24
in honor of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
It’s hard to guess whether the exact reason of the idea of bringing to
account those denying the historical fact was the French bill, the
desire to suppress the growing xenophobia in the Russian society or
something else. The French bill anticipates 5-year-imprisonment and a
45.000-euro-fine for the denial of the Armenian Genocide. If suddenly
Russia passes a similar bill, the sum of the fine and the imprisonment
may make certain people think twice before denying a fact. It is worth
mentioning, that in the number of countries the denial of the
Holocaust is also subject to criminal penalty.
As for France, things are more or less clear here. According to the
political scientist Karen Bekaryan, by passing the bill France once
again reminded the world where the routs of the democracy lay. In this
very case the French parliamentarians were guided by the public
opinion, which is not pro-Armenian but anti-Turkish. The thing is not
in the Armenians, the thing is in the Turks. As it is known, France is
categorically against Turkey’s integration into EU, against expansion,
against the European Constitution. And France is not alone in it.
Europe won’t be able to digest the Islamic country with the population
of 80 million people. The same may be said about Russia, which has
more problems with Muslim population, which according to some
assessments will overweight the Russians in the nearest future.
It is quite possible that the idea of the Speaker of the Russian State
Duma will so remain a happy intention, but in any case the progress in
considering the Genocide as evil against…
«PanARMENIAN.Net» analytical department