Expert: Bundestag’s Decision On Genocide Depends On French Constitut

EXPERT: BUNDESTAG’S DECISION ON GENOCIDE DEPENDS ON FRENCH CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL

PanARMENIAN.Net
February 28, 2012 – 09:16 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The decision of Germany’s Bundestag on the petition
criminalizing the denial of genocides recognized by the Federal
Republic of Germany, including the Armenian Genocide, will depend on
the judgment of the constitutional council of France, deputy director
of Caucasus Institute said.

“If the judgment is positive, the petition is more likely to be
adopted in Germany; otherwise further development of events is hard
to predict,” Sergey Minasyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

Responding to the question about probability of a chain reaction of
adopting similar bills throughout Europe, Minasyan noted that “no
chain reaction is possible in this case, because adoption of laws
on Genocide is subject to the rules of politics but not physics,
which say that the parties must be interested in this issue.”

“France demonstrates an example of strong counteraction, on the one
hand, and political elite striving to pass the given bill, on the
other hand,” he added.

The Petitions Committee of German Bundestag will discuss the issue
of criminalization of denial of genocides recognized by the Federal
Republic of Germany during one of its forthcoming sessions.

In response to the petition submitted on January 26, 2012, the
Bundestag Commission informed the department of genocide recognition
headed by Dr. Tessa Hofmann about its intention to discuss the issue,”
a source in Germany earlier told PanARMENIAN.Net

In June 2005, the German Bundestag unanimously adopted the Resolution
on the Armenian Genocide sponsored by the Christian Democratic Union/
Christian Social Union without discussion.

The document was titled “Commemoration of Victims and Deportation of
Armenians in 1915: Germany has to participate in reconciliation of
Armenians and Turks”. Though the document does not directly mention
recognition of the Armenian Genocide, it notes that “many independent
historians, as well as parliaments of many countries and international
organizations call events of 1915 a genocide.”

On January 23, the French Senate passed the bill criminalizing the
Armenian Genocide denial with 127 votes for and 86 against. Expected
to be signed into law by President within 14 days, the bill will
impose a 45,000 euro fine and a year in prison for anyone in France
who denies this crime against humanity committed by the Ottoman Empire.

Two separate groups of French politicians who oppose the legislation
– from both the Senate and the lower house – said they had formally
requested the constitutional council examine the law. The groups said
they each had gathered more than the minimum 60 signatures required
to ask the council to test the law’s constitutionality.

The council is expected to deliver its judgment by March 1. French
President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to circulate a new bill criminalizing
the Armenian Genocide denial in case the constitutional council
recognizes the January 23 bill as contradicting the constitution.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress