Author: Kanayan Tamar

Dar Al Hayat (Lebanon)
December 28, 2011 Wednesday
International Edition

The Dispute between France and Turkey

by Randa Takieddine

Members of the ruling parliamentary majority in France erred by voting
in the National Assembly for a law to punish the denial of the
massacres against the Armenians for a number of reasons. First, the
vote took place for purely electoral reasons, since the Armenian vote
in France’s presidential elections in around four months’ time,
followed by legislative elections, is some 400,000-strong. It comes at
an inopportune time because it goes against France’s diplomatic
efforts with Turkey. A few weeks before the vote, Foreign Minister
Alain Juppe made a successful visit to Turkey to discuss joint action
to find solutions to the crisis in Syria. Now, following this vote,
Paris will no longer be able to move in concert with Ankara; Juppe
termed the vote not useful and unproductive. The timing of this move
by the legislature might be useful for a number of MPs from Marseilles
and the south of the country, who are determined to pick up support
from Armenian voters. However, the vote is not part of the
calculations of the French president, who seeks to play a role on the
international stage with the Turks, especially since the Armenians
traditionally vote for the French right.

In the second place, the text of the law contradicts all of France’s
commitments to not legislate matters having to do with earlier phases
of history. In 2008, the speaker of the National Assembly, Bernard
Accoyer, committed himself, in a report he issued, to not tabling
legislation of this sort, which was violated in this recent vote.

Another motivation for the vote is that the majority in the French
Senate is now with the left, following the most recent elections,
meaning the Socialist opposition to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Prior to this, when a right-wing majority held the French Senate last
fall, Sarkozy could have relied on the Senate to defeat the law. Now,
the left-dominated Senate is hinting that it will endorse the law,
even if it contains negative points – it will be a way to irritate
Sarkozy.

These purely electoral reasons were behind pulling the legislation out
of the “freezer,” where it had been since 2007. Sarkozy was aware that
the move would anger the Turks and inspire them to seek political
revenge. Turkey condemned France for committing massacres in Algeria,
while also mentioning Rwanda. The Turks are also resorting to halting
contracts with France which were in any case stumbling, since France
was not among the expected parties to win the contracts. There is a
fear that France will suffer economic losses with the latest
development, as France currently enjoys a surplus in its trade balance
with Turkey.

The move by the legislature will cost France in its diplomatic moves
with Turkey, vis-à-vis the popular uprisings in the Arab world, from
Syria to Libya, and in the Middle East in general, all for electoral
reasons that contain no guarantees, in any case, because the
possibility that the Socialists will take office in France is very
strong.

International Islamic News Agency IINA
Dec 28 2011

Caucasus/Turkey: Caucasian Muslims Office: French decision targets
whole Turkic world
By IINA- December 28, 2011

BAKU, 2 Safar/28 Dec (IINA)- The Baku-based Caucasian Muslims Office
has said a recent decision of the French National Assembly to penalize
deniers of Armenian claims of genocide targets not only Turkey but the
whole Turkic world.

Caucasian Muslims Office Chairman Sheikh-ul-Islam Haji Allahshukur
Pashazadeh issued a written statement on Wednesday in which he
strongly criticized last week’s French move to make it a crime to deny
that the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians constituted
genocide. Stating that the decision was taken against not only Turkey
but also Azerbaijan and the whole Turkic world, he said the approval
of the bill, `which was taken under the influence of the Armenian
lobby in France, is dangerous and against democracy.’

Noting that the decision `fails to strengthen peace and justice,
distorts history and plants seeds of hate,’ he said the French move
would `lead to gross damage and tragedy.’

Stating that the decision cast a shadow on France’s impartiality in
the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute as a member of the Minsk Group, he called
on France to approach such issues objectively.

France, along with the US and Russia, co-chairs the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group, which has
been trying to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute since the 1990s but
has thus far failed to provide a viable solution to the issue.

Pashazadeh also called on French President Nicolas Sarkozy and members
of the senate to strike down the bill.

The lower house of the French parliament voted last week in favor of
the controversial bill penalizing the denial of the alleged Armenian
genocide, ignoring massive Turkish protests against the measure.

The bill sets a punishment of up to a year in prison and a fine of
45,000 Euros ($59,000) for those who deny or `outrageously minimize’
the alleged genocide of Armenians in eastern Anatolia during the final
years of the Ottoman Empire, putting such action on par with denial of
the Holocaust.

The measure now needs to be passed in the senate, the upper house of
parliament, before it will come into effect.

AH/IINA

BILL CRIMINALIZING DENIAL OF MADE-UP “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE” NOT INCLUDED IN FRENCH SENATE’S AGENDA

MilAz.info
Dec 29 2011
Azerbaijan

The bill criminalizing denial of made-up “Armenian genocide” was not
included in agenda of the French Senate, Roger Karoutchi from the
Union for a Popular Movement told Le Figaro.

“The Senate’s working program does not include this text till next
February,” said Senator Karoutchi. “If the bill is not included in
the Senate’s agenda until the end of January, it will be considered as
non-accepted because the parliament will cease its activity beginning
from the end of February and early March due to the presidential
elections”.

Karoutchi said conference of Senate’s chairmen will be held on January
10 and it may decide to include the issue in the agenda.

DAVUTOGLU: FRANCE FED ON THE PAIN OF OTHERS TO ARRIVE AT WHERE IT IS TODAY

Today’s Zaman
Dec 29 2011
Turkey

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has slammed French leaders
throughout history for “arriving at where they are today” through the
pain and sorrow of others, while he sent a veiled message to Armenians
that every pain is worthy of respect, as long as it is mutual.

“Do not engage in imperialist plans over the pain of others,” Davutoglu
said to ex-colonizers, particularly France, as he spoke in Edirne
at a conference titled “From Balkan War to Balkan Peace,” marking
the hundredth anniversary of the Balkan Wars. Davutoglu recalled the
events of 1915, saying that 1915 was the year Turks waged a battle on
multiple fronts against a large number of Western opponents and that
Gallipoli was one of the most profound of those fronts where Turkey
lost 250,000. “You did not suffer in 1915; the ones that suffered
were those 250,000 martyrs in Gallipoli,” Davutoglu unleashed at
France for judging the events of 1915 from a one-sided perspective
that favored one side of history for “political benefits.”

Addressing the French leader, Davutoglu noted that France became what
it is today “by making others suffer,” and now “they are trying to
build history from the pain of others.”

Also calling on the Armenians, Davutoglu repeated that all Armenians
were neighbors to Turks and have shared the same lands, and Turks
respect Armenians. “We share their pain if they respect our pain too,”
Davutoglu urged Armenia, noting one more time that “a fair memory”
would be the solution to the controversy surrounding the events of
1915 when large numbers of Armenians, estimated at somewhere between
hundreds of thousands to more than a million, were killed by Ottoman
Turks as they were sent away from their homelands to calm an armed
uprising, according to Turkish records. Davutoglu also noted that at
the time of the Zurich protocols signed between Turkey and Armenia, he
had prepared a speech calling on Armenia to contribute to “a collective
consciousness.” At the time of the Swiss and US brokered ice-breaker
deal, speeches to be delivered by both sides were cancelled, and
although the protocols were signed, they have not been ratified by
either parliament so far.

With regards to the hundredth year of the Balkan Wars, Davutoglu also
announced “a peace manifesto,” which would enable the Balkans to enjoy
peace after many years of pain and suffering in the region. He called
for a mutual vision among Balkan countries, as he said that prejudice
and keeping enmities alive would continue to harm the entire region.

He also suggested that both the Balkans and the Middle East were
remembered by their connection to bloodshed and wars, “as if it is the
responsibility of the people of the region,” and recalled that none
of the wars in either region was started by the will of the people
who live there. “There has been a bad parenthesis [a pause in peace]
imbedded within the 20th century in the Balkans; now we want to close
it,” he said with reference to the peaceful history of the Balkans,
disrupted only for a century by the intervention of foreign forces.

The foreign minister also bitterly touched on the EU, saying that
the bloc still hesitates on visa waivers, saying that the Balkan
neighbor cities now considered within the EU cannot be separated
from the Turkish ones across the border. “This wall will not hold,
it will collapse,” Davutoglu said, referring to the borders of the EU
that are closed to Turkey since the country is not a member. Turkey
has been negotiating for years for membership, and it is the only
member candidate that does not benefit from a visa waiver that other
candidate countries enjoy with the EU.

The foreign minister also drew a comparison between Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk, the founder of modern day Turkey, and French President
Nicolas Sarkozy, saying that one leader excelled beyond the pain and
the other fed on the pain of others and kept it alive for the sake of
its benefit. He voiced the possibility that Turks could have held on
to their pain suffered on the Western front and held Greeks as eternal
enemies, but they rather held a hand out to the Greeks and made their
peace. On the Western front, Greek forces, one of the Allies during
World War I, waged a war against Turks to break through the Western
front to penetrate Ä°stanbul under the command of the British forces.

Around the same time, ANZAC forces — mainly Australian and New Zealand
— landed at Gallipoli, but Turks were able to defend the Western
front. The Turkish victory fostered the country’s self-confidence and
enabled the establishment of modern day Turkey, but the country was
nevertheless defeated along with the Central Powers, led by Germany.
Content-Type: MESSAGE/RFC822; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Description:

MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
From: Katia Peltekian
Subject: =?UTF-8?Q?ANKARA=3A_Davuto=C4=9Flu=3A_France_fed_on_the_pain_of_others?=
=?UTF-8?Q?_to_arrive_at_where_it_is_today?=

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Dec 29 2011

DavutoÄ?lu: France fed on the pain of others to arrive at where it is today

29 December 2011 / EDIRNE, CEREN KUMOVA/SERVET YANATMA

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu has slammed French leaders
throughout history for â??arriving at where they are todayâ?? through the
pain and sorrow of others, while he sent a veiled message to Armenians
that every pain is worthy of respect, as long as it is mutual.

â??Do not engage in imperialist plans over the pain of others,â??
DavutoÄ?lu said to ex-colonizers, particularly France, as he spoke in
Edirne at a conference titled â??From Balkan War to Balkan Peace,â??
marking the hundredth anniversary of the Balkan Wars. DavutoÄ?lu
recalled the events of 1915, saying that 1915 was the year Turks waged
a battle on multiple fronts against a large number of Western
opponents and that Gallipoli was one of the most profound of those
fronts where Turkey lost 250,000. â??You did not suffer in 1915; the
ones that suffered were those 250,000 martyrs in Gallipoli,â?? DavutoÄ?lu
unleashed at France for judging the events of 1915 from a one-sided
perspective that favored one side of history for â??political benefits.â??
Addressing the French leader, DavutoÄ?lu noted that France became what
it is today â??by making others suffer,â?? and now â??they are trying to
build history from the pain of others.â??

Also calling on the Armenians, DavutoÄ?lu repeated that all Armenians
were neighbors to Turks and have shared the same lands, and Turks
respect Armenians. â??We share their pain if they respect our pain too,â??
DavutoÄ?lu urged Armenia, noting one more time that â??a fair memoryâ??
would be the solution to the controversy surrounding the events of
1915 when large numbers of Armenians, estimated at somewhere between
hundreds of thousands to more than a million, were killed by Ottoman
Turks as they were sent away from their homelands to calm an armed
uprising, according to Turkish records. DavutoÄ?lu also noted that at
the time of the Zurich protocols signed between Turkey and Armenia, he
had prepared a speech calling on Armenia to contribute to â??a
collective consciousness.â?? At the time of the Swiss and US brokered
ice-breaker deal, speeches to be delivered by both sides were
cancelled, and although the protocols were signed, they have not been
ratified by either parliament so far.

With regards to the hundredth year of the Balkan Wars, DavutoÄ?lu also
announced â??a peace manifesto,â?? which would enable the Balkans to enjoy
peace after many years of pain and suffering in the region. He called
for a mutual vision among Balkan countries, as he said that prejudice
and keeping enmities alive would continue to harm the entire region.
He also suggested that both the Balkans and the Middle East were
remembered by their connection to bloodshed and wars, â??as if it is the
responsibility of the people of the region,â?? and recalled that none of
the wars in either region was started by the will of the people who
live there. â??There has been a bad parenthesis [a pause in peace]
imbedded within the 20th century in the Balkans; now we want to close
it,â?? he said with reference to the peaceful history of the Balkans,
disrupted only for a century by the intervention of foreign forces.

The foreign minister also bitterly touched on the EU, saying that the
bloc still hesitates on visa waivers, saying that the Balkan neighbor
cities now considered within the EU cannot be separated from the
Turkish ones across the border. â??This wall will not hold, it will
collapse,â?? DavutoÄ?lu said, referring to the borders of the EU that are
closed to Turkey since the country is not a member. Turkey has been
negotiating for years for membership, and it is the only member
candidate that does not benefit from a visa waiver that other
candidate countries enjoy with the EU.

The foreign minister also drew a comparison between Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk, the founder of modern day Turkey, and French President
Nicolas Sarkozy, saying that one leader excelled beyond the pain and
the other fed on the pain of others and kept it alive for the sake of
its benefit. He voiced the possibility that Turks could have held on
to their pain suffered on the Western front and held Greeks as eternal
enemies, but they rather held a hand out to the Greeks and made their
peace. On the Western front, Greek forces, one of the Allies during
World War I, waged a war against Turks to break through the Western
front to penetrate Ä°stanbul under the command of the British forces.
Around the same time, ANZAC forces — mainly Australian and New
Zealand — landed at Gallipoli, but Turks were able to defend the
Western front. The Turkish victory fostered the country’s
self-confidence and enabled the establishment of modern day Turkey,
but the country was nevertheless defeated along with the Central
Powers, led by Germany.

TURKISH MINISTER ACCUSES FRANCE OF “IMPERIALISTIC PLANS”

News.Az
Thu 29 December 2011

Turkey’s foreign minister has accused the French parliament of
“imperialistic plans” based on the suffering of others.

Ahmet Davutoglu made the remarks at a conference “From Balkan War
to Balkan Peace: Turkish Foreign Policy on its 100th Anniversary”
at Trakya University in the northwestern province of Edirne, Turkey’s
semi-official Anadolu news agency reported.

He was speaking after the lower house of the French parliament passed
a bill that will make it a crime in France to deny that the mass
killings of Armenians in 1915 amounted to “genocide”. The bill has
still to be discussed in the French Senate next year.

“Every nation thinks that its agony is unique, however we can
understand the agonies of all nations because we felt the biggest
agony,” Davutoglu told a

Davutoglu said the French parliament should not make imperialistic
plans on the agonies of other people, and drew attention to the
difference in the leadership of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey.

“One of them abandoned the place he was born, and burst into tears
whenever he heard a Thracian song. He could incite his nation,
as the founder of a new nation state, and could make his nation
remember their agonies by telling them that ‘the Greeks occupied the
territories’. However, he did not say this, but extended his hand to
[Greek leader] Venizelos because a leader like Ataturk was the outcome
of a blend of 10 centuries,” Davutoglu said.

Davutoglu also said, “However, I am not only saying this for Sarkozy,
but French leaders have reached where they are today by making other
nations suffer, and now they are trying to build a new history on
the agonies of others.”

NEW SCANDAL INFLAMES MOLDOVA INVOLVING ARMS SALE TO ARMENIA

epress.am
12.29.2011

A new scandal involving the sale of arms to Armenia has erupted in the
Moldovan capital of Chisinau. In September, the country’s parliament
demanded the government explain why the Defense Ministry is supplying
arms to a region with unresolved conflicts, after which the deal was
frozen. However, Moldovan Security Council Chair Yuri Rikichinsky
recently tried to resurrect the deal, which was immediately condemned
by MPs, reports Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

Rikichinsky was called to parliament on Tuesday to provide explanations
on a letter sent to parliamentary speaker Marian Lupu in which he
requested assistance in completing the sale of arms from the National
Army’s arsenal. The deal refers to about 20 tons of rockets and
missiles, which Moldova’s Ministry of Defense is to deliver to Armenia.

An expert with the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed
Forces (DCAF), Viorel Cibotaru, in an interview with the Russian
publication, noted that the deal became a scandal because it was kept
secret even from parliament, and more importantly, “Chisinau did not
hold preliminary talks on this issue with Baku, which closely follows
what is happening around Karabakh.” This, according to the expert, is
the main shortcoming of the country’s leadership. Also, they “didn’t
secure a reliable [partner] for the route of delivery, as a result of
which misunderstandings arose with Latvia,” said Cibotaru. Otherwise,
in his view, all was within the framework of international norms –
Moldova had the right to sell weapons, including those of the type
specified in the Defense Ministry list.

Recall, during a Parliamentary Commission on National Security meeting
it was announced that the deal cost $3 million 250 thousand USD.

Speaking on the matter to Epress.am earlier, Armenian Ministry of
Defense spokesperson David Karapetyan said: “To meet the needs of
Armenia’s Armed Forces, the procurement and acquisition of weapons
and military equipment are carried out under the laws of the Republic
[of Armenia] and relevant international norms and obligations,”
adding that in the interests of national security, the Ministry of
Defense does not disclose details of the quantity or types of arms
it purchases and from which country.

LES DEUX VALERIE A LA UNE DE L’ACTUALITE
Ara

armenews.com
jeudi 29 decembre 2011

Selon un billet d’humeur publie par le site Lragir deux Valerie
occupent cette semaine la “une” des medias en Armenie : Valerie Boyer
et Valerie Gordzounian. La deuxième est la proprietaire du Cafe de
Paris, qui connait depuis des annees des problèmes administratifs lies
a son activite et qui a l’intention de quitter le pays. La seconde
est l’auteur du projet de loi penalisant la negation du genocide des
Armeniens. Si cette loi venait a etre ratifiee au Senat, nul doute
que la Boyer deviendrait un veritable heros national en Armenie,
estime le journal.

Pour Lragir : les deux Valeries reflètent deux aspects importants de
la realite armenienne : Le climat negatif du monde des affaires et
l’atmosphère psychologique quelque peu superficielle du pays. Deux
questions jugees très importantes, car de leur resolution dependrait
l’entree du pays dans un monde moderne et competitif.

L’affaire du Cafe Paris, illustre selon l’auteur de l’article, la
difficulte de faire fonctionner une entreprise dans le pays si on
refuse le système claniste et le nepotisme. Le culte populaire porte
a Valerie Boyer, temoigne lui des reflexes d’une societe abandonnee
a elle meme et en quete de sauveurs exterieure. Ce qui n’est pas
un signe de maturite, independamment du fait qu’il faut bien sûr
etre reconnaissant envers ceux qui nous apportent leur soutient
a l’exterieur.

“Pas de developpement et de reformes possibles en Armenie tant que
nous verrons le monde en noir et blanc et que nous compterons sur
les autres pour nous tirer d’affaire”, estime Lragir. Lragir emet
en outre un voeux : qu’a la lumière de cette actualite illustree par
les deux Valerie, l’Armenie fasse l’effort de traiter ses problèmes
sociaux et qu’elle ait un rapport au monde plus nuance.

PERFORMANCE MACROECONOMIQUE DANS LE HAUT-KARABAGH
Laetitia

armenews.com
jeudi 29 decembre 2011

Les legislateurs du Haut-Karabagh ont approuve mercredi 28 decembre
2011 le budget de l’Etat sur le territoire armenien contrôlee pour
l’annee prochaine.

Le budget prevoit moins de 1% d’augmentation dans les depenses
publiques. Les recettes budgetaires sont projetees a 65,1 milliards
de drams.

Ces recettes proviennent des subventions de l’Armenie.

Le financement pour des projets d’infrastructures dans le Haut-Karabagh
provient tout de meme de la diaspora armenienne dans le monde
entier. La majeure partie de cette aide a ete acheminee dans le
territoire par le ” Hayastan All-Armenian Fund ” qui a recu plus de
30 millions de dollars de dons essentiellement de la diaspora cette
annee. La plupart de cet argent a ete investi dans la reconstruction
des reseaux de distribution d’eau.

” Nous allons effectuer des depenses sociales essentielles “, a
declare Harutiunian.

Les objectifs budgetaires sont fondes sur l’hypothèse que l’economie
du Karabagh devrait croître de 9% en 2012.

Dans la region du Karabagh, le produit interieur brut est
principalement genere par l’agriculture et l’agroalimentaire.

Le Premier ministre armenien, Tigran Sarkissian, a felicite la
performance macroeconomique du Karabagh lorsqu’il s’est rendu a
Stepanakert en août dernier. ” Les indicateurs actuels nous donnent
des raisons d’esperer que dans les prochaines annees l’economie du
Haut-Karabagh beneficiera d’un rythme soutenu de developpement “,
a-t-il dit.

23 VILLAGEOIS KURDES TUES DANS UN RAID AERIEN
Ara

armenews.com
jeudi 29 decembre 2011

DIYARBAKIR (Turquie), 29 dec 2011- Vingt trois villageois kurdes ont
ete tues jeudi matin dans un raid de l’aviation turque dans le sud-est
de la Turquie, près de la frontière irakienne, a annonce un elu local
membre du Parti pour la paix et la democratie (BDP, pro-kurde).

Un precedent bilan de meme source avait fait etat de 11 morts lors de
ce raid. Vingt trois corps ont ete recenses dans le village d’Ortasu,
près de la frontière irakienne, a indique a la chaîne de television
pro-kurde et proche de la rebellion kurde Roj TV, Ertan Eris, membre
du conseil provincial de Sirnak.

L’agence pro-kurde Firat a de son côte fait etat de 35 morts,
dont des enfants, dans ce bombardement qui n’etait pas confirme de
source officielle. M. Eris a explique qu’un groupe d’une trentaine de
personnes, des jeunes pour la plupart, âges de 16 a 20 ans, avaient
traverse la frontière a des fins de contrebande, et qu’il craignait
une aggravation du dernier bilan. La zone, très escarpee et montagneuse
rend difficile les efforts pour rechercher les corps, a-t-il ajoute.

Des sources de securite locale ont confirme les bombardements sans
toutefois donner de bilan.

Les chasseurs turcs pourraient avoir effectue un pilonnage par
accident, prenant les villageois pour des membres du parti des
travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK, rebelles kurdes), a-t-on ajoute de
meme source.

Les villageois de cette zone se rendent frequemment en Irak par des
voies illegales pour rapporter du carburant et du sucre bon marche
afin de le revendre en Turquie.

Hasip Kaplan, un depute kurde de Sirnak, a affirme a l’AFP etre
au courant de l’incident, indiquant que “des ambulances et des
conseilleurs municipaux” s’etaient rendus sur place.

TURKISH RIGHTS GROUP SAYS UNITE AGAINST GENOCIDE DENIAL, NOT AGAINST FRANCE

asbarez
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

The Web page of the Committee Against Racism and Discrimination of
Turkey’s Human Rights Association

ISTANBUL–On Dec. 22, the Committee Against Racism and Discrimination
of Turkey’s Human Rights Association issued a press release and
initiated a signature campaign calling on Turks to unite against
genocide denial, not against the French Parliament. Below is the full
text of the release. The Turkish version is available on the group’s
Web site.

Broad segments of Turkish society seem to be united against the
bill penalizing the denial of genocide, which will be discussed on
Dec. 22, 2011 in the French Parliament [Editor’s note: The bill has
since passed]. The Turkish state’s denial and threats are supported
by business and consumer associations and civil society. Turkey’s
intelligentsia is also speaking against the bill. The common argument
for all these sectors against France is “freedom of expression”;
they are arguing that banning the denial of the Armenian Genocide
undermines freedom of expression.

We, the Istanbul Branch of the Human Rights Association of Turkey’s
Committee Against Racism and Discrimination declare that the denial
of a crime against humanity such as genocide has nothing to do with
freedom of expression.

The denial of the annihilation of a nation–with its entire social
fabric, professions, works of art, and historical heritage–by the
state itself, intentionally and in a planned manner, means endorsing
the crime and justifying such violence. Therefore, denial of genocide
cannot be considered within the boundaries of freedom of speech. It
constitutes violence against the grandchildren of genocide survivors
in Turkey and elsewhere in the world and against the memory of the
genocide victims. The European Court of Human Rights in many cases
has ruled that freedom of expression is not applicable to expressions
of violence.

The UN General Assembly adopted the Convention for Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in December 1948 and the Convention
came into force in January 1951. Since that day, Holocaust denial
has been punished in many countries with fines and prison sentences.

The punishment of Holocaust denial entails fines and prison sentences
of up to 20 years in Austria, fines and up to 1 year imprisonment
in Belgium, 6 months to 2 years imprisonment in the Czech Republic,
a fine and 5-month prison sentence in Germany, a fine and 1 month to
2 years imprisonment in France, a 3-4-year prison sentence in Italy,
and a fine and 1-10-year prison sentence in Lithuania. In other words,
punishment for genocide denial is neither new nor specific to France.

On Feb. 1, 2011, the Reis-ul Ulema (Grand Mufti) of Bosnian Muslims,
Mustafa CeriÄ~G, during a visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp
together with a group of 150–comprised of Christian, Muslim, and
Jewish delegations–said that those who denied the Holocaust or the
genocide of Muslims in Srebrenica should be treated as accomplices
in the crime.

One argument progressive intellectuals use against the French bill
banning denial is the memory of Hrant Dink, who was opposed to the
passage of such laws. We believe it is wrong to base one’s opinion
on today’s French bill on the views expressed years ago by Hrant
Dink, who was assassinated as a result of collaboration between the
state’s special war apparatus and fascist elements. Not only is it
absurd to speculate on what Hrant Dink would think today, but it is
fundamental to the freedom of thought–something the intellectuals
uphold as sacred–that people should have the right to develop their
own independent opinions, free of others’ guidance.

In conclusion, we invite the NGOs, the business organizations,
such as the Union of Turkish Chambers and Commodity Exchanges and
Association of Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen, opinion makers,
and intellectuals to stop campaigning against the French Parliament
and work for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the Assyrian
Genocide, and the ethnic cleansing of the Greeks by the state and
society.