French Law On Armenian Killings Struck Down

FRENCH LAW ON ARMENIAN KILLINGS STRUCK DOWN

MWC News

Feb 29 2012

France’s Constitutional Council has ruled that a law to punish denial
of the mass killings of Armenians was unconstitutional as it infringed
on freedom of expression.

Tuesday’s ruling by the country’s highest constitutional authority was
welcomed by Turkey, but President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose party had put
forward the bill, quickly pledged to draft a new version of the law.

France formally recognised the 1915-16 killings as genocide in 2001,
but provided no penalty for anyone refuting that.

The country’s lower house approval of the measure in December and
the senate followed giving the law the green light in January.

The law struck down on Tuesday had set a punishment of up to one year
in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros ($59,000) for those who deny or
“outrageously minimise” the killings, putting such action on par with
denial of the Holocaust.

However, the Constitutional Council labelled the law an
“unconstitutional attack on freedom of expression” and it said it
wished “not to enter into the realm of responsibility that belongs
to historians”.

Ruling welcomed

Turkey quickly welcomed the ruling on the law which Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, prime minister, has denounced as “tantamount to discrimination
and racism”.

Turkey’s foreign minister welcomed the decision, saying it was
“pleasing that a grave mistake has been corrected by France’s highest
legal body”.

In a written statement, Ahmet Davutoglu said he hopes France adopts
“a constructive approach in regard to the handling of the conflict
between Turkey and Armenia in a just and scientific manner and
contributes to its solution rather than deepening it”.

“Such an approach would contribute to improvement of Turkish-French
relations in every field,” he said.

However, Sarkozy’s office quickly put out a statement saying he “has
ordered the government to prepare a new draft, taking into account
the Constitutional Council’s decision”.

Sarkozy noted “the great disappointment and profound sadness of all
those who welcomed with hope and gratitude the adoption of this law
aimed at providing protection against revisionism”.

‘Totally outraged’

The head of a French Armenian organisation sharply criticised the
ruling, saying it was the result of Turkish lobbying.

“We have been totally outraged by the Constitutional Council’s decision
at its very core, which is based on politics rather than on legal
grounds,” said Franck Mourad Papazian, president of the Council of
Co-ordination of Armenian Organisations in France.

An estimated 500,000 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 the denial of genocide.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their ancestors were killed by
Turkey’s former Ottoman Empire.

Turkey says 500,000 died and ascribes the toll to fighting and
starvation during World War I.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress