Author: Babajanian Karo

LA LOI DE PENALISATION FAIT LA UNE DU FIGARO
Krikor Amirzayan

armenews.com
mercredi 21 decembre 2011

Hier et aujourd’hui, de très nombreux medias francais revenaient
sur l’actualite du genocide armenien avec la proposition de loi de
penalisation des genocides demain au Parlement. La chaîne d’information
BFM TV revenant en boucle dans ses unes de l’actualite avec des
images du genocide des Armeniens et des dossiers sur les positions
d’Ankara et de Paris. Parmi les journaux nationaux c’est ” Le Figaro
” qui accorde une place importante a cette actualite avec un titre
a sa une ” Genocide armenien, Crise ouverte entre la France et la
Turquie ” et sous-titre ” Ankara envisage des represailles politiques
et economiques si, demain, les deputes francais repriment la penalement
la contestation du genocide armenien “. En page interieure, ” Le Figaro
” consacre toute sa page 4 a cette actualite avec trois articles. Le
premier est de Laure Marchand depuis Istanbul avec le titre ” La
tension monte entre Paris et Ankara “. Sophie Huet titre quant a
elle ” A l’Assemblee, l’embarras est palpable “. Quat au troisième
article signe de Charles Jaigu ” Sarkozy, la promesse d’Erevan “, le
journaliste revient sur le recent voyage en Armenie du President de
la Republique francaise avec une photo en compagnie de son homologue
armenien Serge Sarkissian. Sur le site de Figaro, un large article
consacre a cet evènement est egalement disponible. Avec les reactions
très nombreuses des lecteurs. Nous vous invitons de le visiter et
eventuellement reagir ().

CRISE FRANCO-TURQUE : PARIS RAPPELLE A ANKARA SES ENGAGEMENTS INTERNATIONAUX
Stephane

armenews.com
mercredi 21 decembre 2011

Le ministère des Affaires etrangères a rappele mardi que la Turquie,
qui menace de represailles economiques la France au sujet d’une loi sur
le genocide armenien, etait tenue par ses engagements internationaux,
tout en se declarant confiant sur l’issue de la crise.

Lors d’une rencontre a Paris avec des parlementaires turcs, le chef de
la diplomatie francaise, Alain Juppe, s’est declare assure de pouvoir
surmonter le grave differend qui oppose actuellement les deux pays.

“Le ministre d’Etat a exprime la conviction que nos interets
strategiques communs, notre cooperation pour la paix et la liberte en
Syrie, en Afghanistan, notre appartenance commune a l’Otan ou au G20,
nos cooperations culturelles et economiques, sont suffisamment forts
pour surmonter les epreuves que peuvent traverser nos relations”,
a declare son porte-parole dans un communique.

Alain Juppe “a rappele a ses interlocuteurs que la Turquie est pour la
France un pays ami et allie, avec lequel il s’emploie depuis toujours
a entretenir le dialogue. Il a rappele le sens de l’appel lance par le
president de la Republique lors de sa (recente) visite en Armenie : une
invitation a un geste de memoire de la Turquie sur son histoire, comme
la France l’a fait sur son propre passe”, a precise ce porte-parole,
Bernard Valero.

Ankara a menace Paris de represailles diplomatiques, economiques et
culturelles si une loi etait adoptee par le Parlement francais sur
la negation des genocides, incluant donc celui reconnu par la France
entre 1915 et 1917.

Si elle admet que jusqu’a 500.000 personnes sont mortes pendant cette
periode, la Turquie considère qu’elles ont ete les victimes des aleas
de la Première guerre mondiale et non celles d’un genocide.

En milieu de journee, Bernard Valero avait tenu a rappeler a la
Turquie la necessite du “respect des règles internationales”.

Dans le “domaine particulier du commerce, des relations economiques,
je rappelle que la Turquie est membre de l’Organisation mondiale du
commerce, et qu’elle est liee a l’Union europeenne par un accord
d’union douanière. Ces deux engagements juridiques impliquent un
traitement non discriminatoire a l’egard des entreprises de l’Union
europeenne”, a dit Bernard Valero.

L’Assemblee nationale francaise a prevu d’examiner jeudi une
proposition de loi prevoyant un an de prison et une amende de 45.000
euros en cas de negation d’un genocide reconnu par la loi.

ONE SIMPLE ACT CAN SPARE TURKEY INTERNATIONAL GRIEF
By Sandy Smith

HULIQ.com

Dec 20 2011
SC

As Turkey and France appear headed for a split over the French
government’s move to make denial of the Armenian genocide a crime,
Ankara forgets that it can make a simple gesture that would head off
this and similar actions worldwide.

It consists of a simple sentence, and it would read something like
this:

“The government of the Republic of Turkey wishes to express its sincere
regret to the Armenian people for the role its predecessor played in
the deaths of more than 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1918.”

There. That was easy, wasn’t it?

No use of any politically sensitive terms. No abject chest-pounding.

Just a simple apology for the first crime against humanity of the
20th century.

The trouble is, even this is still beyond the capacity of Turkey’s
leaders to deliver. That’s because delivering it would require the
country to examine its own past in a way it has been unwilling to do.

Many Turkish intellectuals, journalists and opinion leaders have lent
their voices to growing calls for just such a national soul-searching.

But so far, the calls have fallen on deaf ears in Ankara. The official
position of the Turkish government remains that the deaths were the
result of a civil war in which both sides committed atrocities.

Yet the evidence that has come to light in the years since the campaign
shows that if the deaths were the result of a civil war, that war was
incredibly one-sided. There is plenty of evidence relating to forced
relocation of Armenians, mass starvation, and other acts consistent
with an effort to wipe out the Armenian population of the eastern
Ottoman Empire, and no evidence of similar moves on the part of the
much smaller Armenian population.

When similar acts have occurred in more recent times, we have labeled
them genocide: The massacre of Tutsis by Hutus in Rwanda. “Ethnic
cleansing” in the Balkans. We need not reach all the way to the
Holocaust for parallels. Yet the Turks continue to object to the use
of the term.

They should be free to object. They should not be free to act as
though nothing happened, or that they bore no responsibility. An
apology would acknowledge that responsibility and do much to restore
Turkey’s standing with the nations of the West.

LES DEPUTES EXAMINERONT JEUDI UNE PROPOSITION DE LOI REPRIMANT LA NEGATION DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN

Presidentielle 2012
20 dec 2011

Le genocide armenien et plus precisement la discussion sur la
repression de sa negation sera a l’ordre du jour, jeudi 22 decembre,
de l’Assemblee nationale. Elle fait l’objet d’une proposition de loi
UMP qui provoque la colère du gouvernement turc.

La proposition de loi de l’UMP visant a reprimer la negation des
genocides, dont celui qui a frappe le peuple armenien, sera examinee
jeudi par les deputes.

Selon le ministre des relations avec le Parlement, Patrick Ollier,
la conference des presidents n’ayant pas evoque mardi son retrait
de l’ordre du jour, cette proposition de loi sera bien discutee par
les deputes. Le texte punit d’une peine de prison et d’une amende la
negation des genocides.

Les socialistes voteront le texte

Jean-Marc Ayrault, president du groupe PS a l’Assemblee nationale,
a annonce que les deputes socialistes voteront ce texte. “Nous avons
vote une première loi qui etait la reconnaissance par la France du
genocide armenien”, a rappele M. Ayrault.

Selon lui, la proposition de loi de la deputee UMP des Bouches-du-Rhône
Valerie Boyer “ne fait que completer” le premier texte, en organisant
le “respect de cette loi pour ceux qui ne la respecteraient pas”. Sur
le fond, ce texte “n’est pas une attaque contre la Turquie”, a assure
M. Ayrault, meme s’il en a critique “l’opportunisme politique et
politicien”

Cette proposition suscite la colère de la Turquie car elle englobe
le genocide des Armeniens qu’Ankara refuse de reconnaître.

Des consequences “irreparables”

La Turquie a menace la France de consequences “irreparables” pour
les relations entre Paris et Ankara.

Le gouvernement turc prevoit donc d’imposer une panoplie de sanctions
diplomatiques et commerciales contre la France si ses deputes
penalisent la negation de cette extermination.

“La Turquie ne restera pas silencieuse contre ce texte, il y
aura evidemment des consequences. Des plans ont ete discutes dans
l’eventualite d’une adoption” de la proposition de loi, a indique
mardi a l’AFP une source proche du gouvernement turc.

L’ambassadeur turc a Paris sera rappele pour consultations et Ankara
demandera a l’ambassadeur francais a Ankara de faire de meme, a defaut
de quoi il serait declare persona non grata, a indique cette source
sous couvert d’anonymat.

Menace sur la cooperation culturelle

Outre cette sanction diplomatique a effet immediat, Ankara se prepare
a mettre en oeuvre des mesures visant essentiellement les interets
economiques et commerciaux de la France en Turquie. Les echanges
commerciaux entre la France et la Turquie, 17e economie mondiale,
ont represente près de 12 milliards d’euros en 2010.

La cooperation culturelle, scientifique et technologique
turco-francaise sera egalement gelee, a ajoute cette source.

Pour les Armeniens et la France, l’Empire ottoman a orchestre un
genocide qui a fait 1,5 million de morts. La Turquie reconnaît jusqu’a
500 000 morts, victimes selon elle des aleas de la Première Guerre
mondiale et non d’un genocide.

FRENCH SENATE TO SUBMIT SO-CALLED “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE” ISSUE FOR DISCUSSION

Trend
Dec 20 2011
Azerbaijan

The French Senate will submit the so-called “Armenian genocide”
for discussion on Thursday, CNN Turk TV channel reported.

A member of the French president’s party, the Union for a Popular
Movement (UMP) which has the parliamentary majority, presented a
bill earlier this month aimed at introducing criminal punishment to
the legislative committee of the National Assembly for denial of the
so-called ‘Armenian genocide’.

The bill which was signed by 40 members of the UMP party and the New
Centre party, provides up to one year’s imprisonment and a fine of
45,000 euros for those who deny the so-called ‘Armenian genocide’.

The Armenians and the Armenian lobby claim that the predecessor of
Turkey – Ottoman Empire has carried out ‘genocide’ against Armenians
living in Anatolia in 1915 and achieved recognition of these events
as genocide in the parliaments of several countries.

FRENCH PRESIDENT USING TURKEY AS A TOOL FOR INTERNAL POLITICS – CAVUSOGLU

news.az
Dec 20 2011
Azerbaijan

‘Turkey could give both a diplomatic and economic response in case
the resolution was enacted.’ The president of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said on Monday that the
French president was using Turkey as a tool for internal politics.

Mevlut Cavusoglu said French President Nicolas Sarkozy was doing
everything it could to win back the support he lost before elections.

“Unfortunately, he is using Turkey as a tool for internal politics,”
Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara.

Cavusoglu’s remarks came after a French parliamentary commission
adopted a resolution on Armenian allegations regarding the incidents
of 1915.

“If that resolution is legalized, it will have serious results, harm
or suspend interparliamentary relations, have a negative impact on
the friendship group as well as economic and diplomatic relations,”
Cavusoglu said.

Cavusoglu said the resolution was contradictory to fundamental rights
and liberties, adding that Turkey could give both a diplomatic and
economic response in case the resolution was enacted.

The resolution will be voted at the general assembly on December 22.

It envisages “one-year prison term and 45,000 Euro fine for those
who deny genocide recognized by French laws.”

The French Parliament ratified a resolution saying that “France
recognizes the Armenian genocide of 1915” on January 29, 2011.

GUL’S CALL FALLS ON SARKOZY’S DEAF EARS

Hurriyet Daily News
Dec 20 2011
Turkey

In an unprecedented move that was perceived as an act of
disrespectfulness by Turkey, French President Nicolas Sarkozy refused
to talk to the Turkish President Abdullah Gul on the phone, as the
latter attempted to call him to personally to convey his message
over the Armenian ‘genocide’ denial bill to be voted Thursday in the
French parliament.

The Elysee Palace was notified Monday morning that Gul would like
to talk to Sarkozy in person, but the request was not met, leading
Gul to issue a written statement slamming the bill, sources from the
president’s office said. “We have not received a reply from Sarkozy
for the last two days,” one source said. “Sarkozy did not have the
courage to talk to Gul on the issue.”

TURKISH PRESIDENT URGES FRANCE TO DROP GENOCIDE BILL

Hurriyet Daily News
Dec 20 2011
Turkey

Turkish President Abdullah Gul made an appeal to France on Tuesday
to drop a genocide bill on Armenian claims as soon as possible,
saying that the planned legislation was unacceptable.

“It is not possible for us to accept this bill which denies us the
freedom to reject unfair and groundless accusations targeting our
country and our nation,” Gul said in a statement.

His remarks came as the French parliament prepares to vote Thursday
on a law making it illegal to deny Armenian claims of genocide during
the 1915 events.

Gul urged France to abort this initiative as soon as possible as it
will block any objective research of the 1915 events.

“I want to hope that France will not sacrifice centuries-old
Turkish-French friendship, common interests and bonds of alliance
for small political calculations,” said Gul, drawing attention to
the timing of the bill ahead of next year’s elections in France. The
Turkish leader called for common sense to reign in France, saying
that history should be written by historians.

If the law is passed as expected, anyone in France who publicly denies
the genocide claims could face a year in jail and a fine of 45,000
euros ($58,000).

TURKISH MINISTER FOR EUROPEAN UNION WARNS FRANCE

Anadolu Agency
Dec 20 2011
Turkey

Turkish Minister for European Union (EU) Affairs and Chief Negotiator,
Egemen Bagis, said Tuesday that “France would pay a high cost if a
resolution criminalizing the rejection of the Armenian allegations
on the incidents of 1915 gets adopted at the French Parliament on
Thursday”.

Speaking in a program on Channel 24, Bagis said that Turkey faced a
resolution in France that was presented due to internal politics and
as a tool to garner support during the French presidential elections.

The Armenian resolution is one that involves not only Turkey but
French companies doing business in Turkey as well as the people of
France who have friendly relations with Turkey, Bagis noted.

France would pay a high cost with the adoption of the resolution. They
should not make a mistake as the Turkish nation is highly sensitive
on the issue, Bagis also said.

RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN ALLEGATIONS BROUGHT ON THE AGENDA OF FRENCH PARLIAMENT

Anadolu Agency
Dec 20 2011
Turkey

The French government on Tuesday decided to take a resolution
criminalizing the rejection of Armenian allegations pertaining to
the incidents of 1915 on the agenda of the French Parliament on
December 22.

The resolution will be voted at the general assembly of French
Parliament as the government did not object to take it into agenda.

A committee in French Parliament had accepted the resolution on
December 7.

If adopted on Thursday, the resolution will make it a crime to deny the
Armenian allegations on the incidents of 1915 and punish individuals
with a prison sentence of 1 year and a monetary fine of 45,000 euro.