Today’s Zaman , Turkey
Jan 22 2012
All eyes on French Senate on day of genocide denial bill debate
22 January 2012 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, ANKARA
Turks are keeping an unblinking eye on France as its senate readies to
debate a bill that, if passed, will take away their right to defend
their ancestors against the allegation they perpetrated genocide in
1915 against Armenians.
The French Senate is to gather on Monday to debate a bill that seeks
to punish with a fine and prison sentence anyone who denies the large
number of Armenian deaths at the hands of the Ottoman Turks almost 100
years ago constituted genocide. The bill passed through the lower
house of the French Parliament on Dec. 22, triggering outraged
reactions in Turkey that argue the French bill compromises freedom of
expression and utilizes a historical issue sensitive to Armenians and
Turks as a tool of domestic politics ahead of French elections.
Thousands of Turks living in Europe gathered in Paris over the weekend
to protest the senate debate. Reactions have erupted in waves in
Turkey, which has mobilized against French products and firms in the
country, and has been echoed in Europe by the millions of Turks living
there.
Turks of all ages waved their red flags as they marched to the senate
on Saturday, the Associated Press reported. The number of bill
protesters was around tens of thousands, and they came not only from
France but from other European countries, mostly Germany, where the
majority of expatriate Turks live.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç hailed the protesters on
Sunday, saying it was “the first time tens of thousands of Turks from
all over Europe gathered in Paris to raise their voices for their
righteous cause.” More than 500 bus loads of Turks reportedly arrived
in Paris on Saturday from other European countries, including Belgium,
the Netherlands and the UK.
Arınç also noted that, in the event that the bill passes, “there were
thousands of Turks and intellectuals who would deny the allegations of
genocide,” to challenge the French decision. The deputy prime minister
also questioned the reaction French officials would give if Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an says the “incidents of 1915 do not
constitute genocide” when he visits France next.
The protesters’ banners read `No to Sarkozy Shame Law,’ `History for
Historians, Politics for Politicians’ and similar words of protest
against French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s initiative, the AP noted.
Demonstrators accused Sarkozy of fishing for the votes of half a
million Armenians at the expense of constitutional rights and,
ultimately, ties with Turkey.
The demonstration is also expected to spark a counter-demonstration
from Armenians, who are planning to gather outside the senate on
Monday prior to the voting. Armenians consider the 1915 incidents a
main building block of their identity, and their diaspora pressures
third country parliaments to recognize the events as genocide and
punish those who dare argue the killings were not the result of a
systematic ethnic cleansing.
On Friday, the French Embassy in Ankara publicized a letter Sarkozy
recently wrote to ErdoÄ?an to clarify France’s intention and motivation
behind the bill, which said the text of the bill did not target a
nation or state, but it hoped to fight racist and xenophobic remarks.
The controversial bill envisions a fine of up to 45,000 euros and a
one-year prison sentence for French citizens who claim that incidents
termed as genocide in France were not genocide or outrageously
minimize the killings. In France, the Holocaust and `Armenian
genocide’ have been recognized as such, and the offenders that deny
either `genocide’ will be judged under the same law.
`The aim of the law that will, first and foremost, be applicable in
France and to French citizens is to protect the memories of members of
our society, who have been carrying along with them for a very long
time the feeling of denial toward the realities their ancestors went
through, and to remedy the wounds that were inflicted 100 years ago,’
Sarkozy said in the letter. The French Embassy noted Sarkozy’s letter
was in response to a message ErdoÄ?an sent him earlier, urging France
to reconsider the bill with regard to its negative effects on
bilateral ties and its jeopardizing effects on France’s respect for
freedoms and rights.
Hours after the release of the letter to the press, Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu dispersed hopes the letter might ease
Turkey’s reaction. `No letter will change Turkey’s attitude regarding
the bill,’ DavutoÄ?lu said on Friday, while urging the French Senate,
one more time, to block the bill from passing as law during Monday’s
vote.
However, the senate has the power to drop the bill before putting it
to a vote if it upholds a French Senate panel decision that the bill
contradicts French laws and should be dropped. Days before the senate
debate, the Commission of Laws voted against the bill on the grounds
that it would be incompatible with French laws since it blocks freedom
of expression, a right France championed centuries ago. The commission
decision, however, comes as a recommendation to the senate, which
could choose to uphold the decision and drop the bill from the agenda
or push on with voting and determine the fate of the bill that way.
When the bill passed through the French lower house, only some 70
lawmakers out of a total of 577 voted, which drew criticism from
Turkey on a lack of courage of those who chose to absent themselves
from the voting, rather than voting against what it called Sarkozy’s
election-time fanfare. Such criticism against the bill was also voiced
among the French and the international media, saying that such moves
usually coincided with elections in France and had serious
repercussions for the country in the long run.
Turkish officials have, for two months, reiterated their call to the
French nation and lawmakers that the bill would not help normalize
ties between Turkey and Armenia and contributes nothing to the
solution of the dispute over 1915 between the nations, both of whom
agreed in a Zurich protocol in 2009 that an international panel of
historians should open up archives and debate the issue. However,
neither Turks nor Armenians ratified the protocol in their parliaments
after it got tangled up in details and terminology, stonewalling
progress.
When France recognized in 2001 the events of 1915 as genocide
committed against ethnic Armenians under Ottoman rule, the country saw
almost a 40 percent decline in its exports to Turkey and was hit by a
blow of anti-France sentiment from Turkey, but ties were on the mend
until the `genocide’ debate erupted again in 2010.
The debate heated up again when Sarkozy gave from Yerevan an ultimatum
to Turkey in October to face its history and recognize the killings as
genocide, or he would see to the passage of a denial bill in France to
hold genocide deniers accountable for their alleged offense. Turkey
has been breathing fire at Sarkozy since his Yerevan speech, which
came on top of his harsh rhetoric against Turkey’s admittance into the
EU, to which Sarkozy says Turkey is, by nature and physical location,
an outsider.
From: A. Papazian