People’s Daily, China
Oct 13 2006
French parliament passes bill on Armenian genocide

The French lower house of parliament on Thursday adopted a bill that
would make it a crime to deny that the World War I massacre of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks was genocide.
According to the legislation that was carried by 106 votes to 19,
anyone denying the genocide would be sentenced to one year in prison
and ordered to pay a 45,000-euro (56,570 U.S. dollars) fine.
To become law, the bill still needs the approval of both the upper
house Senate and the French president.
But Turkey has warned that the bill would damage ties between the two
countries, and threatened economic revenge against France if the bill
become law.
“If this draft law is approved, Turkey will lose nothing but France
will … lose Turkey,” Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said in
televised comments late on Wednesday.
Ankara denied it was to blame for the genocide of around 1.5 million
Armenians during the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in World
War I, arguing that it was part of general fighting in which both
sides suffered.
Although the French government considered that it was up to
historians not parliament to judge the past, the ruling Union for a
Popular Movement (UMP) gave its lawmakers a free hand in the vote,
which ensured the passing of the bill.
Later in the day, the European Commission criticized the bill, saying
it could harm reconciliation efforts.

Sabah, Turkey
Oct 13 2006
French companies say: “we believe in Turkey”
Renault, the longest standing French company in Turkey said:
“companies which contribute to export and the development of the
country believe in Turkey.”
After the approval of the Armenian genocide denial bill in France,
Renault declared in writing that: “Renault believes in Turkey and is
monitoring these happenings very closely.” The communication manager
of the company, Jean-Christophe Nougaret, stated that Renault has
performed commercial and industrial activities within the partnership
of OYAK for 37 years and thus Renault has been contributing to the
development and continuous growth of Turkey with its production and
export performances. ”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Sabah, Turkey
Oct 13 2006
J’accuse! (I blame)
Putting itself in a judge’s position, the French Parliament has
signed an unjust decision which has offended Turkish nation. The same
France, 112 years ago, issued another injustice by imprisoning its
own army officer, thinking he was a spy.
Years ago, when Officer Dreyfus was blamed for being a spy, the
French government imprisoned him without having acquired sufficient
evidence. The famous author Emile Zola defended him in L’Aurore
Newspaper’s headline: “J’accuse! (I blame) she wrote to the French
government. That same government went on to convict Emile Zola as
well.
After many years passed, France accepted both Dreyfus’s and Zola’s
innocence and had to apologize to both. Yesterday’s decision has
reminded everyone of Zola’s “J’accuse!” headline. Ignoring Turkish
protests, the French parliament approved a bill and made it a crime
to deny that Armenians suffered from a genocide in 1915 at the hands
of the Ottoman Turks. The motion was carried by 106 votes to 19.

Sabah, Turkey
Oct 13 2006
France passes the law despite all warnings
The French parliament has approved the bill making it a crime to deny
that Armenians suffered from a genocide in 1915. Both the government
and the press did everything in their power up until the very last
moment to prevent the law from passing, however the motion was
carried by 106 votes to 19.
Ignoring Turkish protests, the French parliament approved a bill on
Thursday making it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered from a
genocide in 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. The bill still
needs to be ratified by both the upper house Senate and the French
president to become a law, but Turkey has already warned that
Thursday’s vote would damage ties between the two NATO allies.
The legislation establishes a one-year prison term and 45,000 euro
($56,570) fine for anyone denying that genocide occurred — exactly
the same sanctions as those imposed for denying the Nazi genocide of
Jews during World War Two. The French government did not support the
motion, saying it was up to historians and not the parliament to
judge the past, but the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP)
gave its lawmakers a free hand in the vote, ensuring it would pass.

BBC News, UK
Oct 13 2006
Analysis: French focus on Armenian ‘genocide’
By Clive Myrie
BBC News, Paris
A dictionary will tell you that genocide is the organised killing of
a people to end their collective existence.

Ethnic Armenian campaigners in France have hailed the vote
Because of its scope, it requires central planning and a machinery to
implement it.
Genocide was clearly Adolf Hitler’s aim – it was also what the Hutus
of Rwanda desired in 1994.
There are many Turks who will not deny hundreds of thousands of
Armenians were killed in 1915 during a resettlement programme to
other parts of the Ottoman Empire.
But people died, they say, in inter-communal warfare – it was not the
organised killing of a people to end their collective existence. It
was not genocide.
There are many others around the world who beg to differ but some
here in France want to enshrine their view in law.
The lower house of parliament has approved a bill making it a crime
to deny Armenians suffered genocide. No other country has tried this,
so why are the French doing so now?
“Everything is politics” they say and for critics of the French
initiative that is exactly what the controversy is about – politics.
Wooing voters
The bill was proposed by the minority Socialists in the French
Parliament.
There is a presidential election next year and cynics say pushing for
a law criminalising denial of an Armenian genocide plays well with
Armenians here who vote.
Jack Lang, a Socialist MP, believes he knows what is going on and has
broken ranks.
“I believe the Socialist party has adopted an electoralist point of
view. It is not sincere. It is only to get the electoral support of
the Armenian community.”
Cynics say there are others whom those who put forward the bill want
to impress: the majority of French people who do not want Turkey
joining the European Union.
Indeed many French politicians agree a mainly Muslim country has no
place in the EU and this may be driving the anti-Turkish bill.
Cross-party support
But is cynicism over the motives behind the bill fair?
For many French politicians denying the Armenian genocide is like
denying the Holocaust and it was not just Socialists who supported
the bill.
They were joined by a number of centre-right politicians too.
Herve Mariton of the ruling UMP party said:
“The genocide is a fact. It is an absolute disgrace for the 20th
Century, it is an absolute disgrace for humanity, it has to be stated
as such.”
The government of President Jacques Chirac is in a difficult
position.
He has suggested Turkish recognition of the Armenian genocide should
be a pre-condition of entry into the EU, but he has distanced his
government from the bill.
Principle
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin says it is a bad idea and
insists France wants strong ties with Turkey.
French businesses fear trade will suffer. Exports to Turkey were
worth 4.66bn euros last year.
That is why ultimately the bill will never become law.
It has to go to the Senate for a vote and with the government’s
majority in the upper house, it is highly unlikely to pass.
Gesture politics then and a cry from the heart by MPs who believe it
was genocide, or is all this politicking?
And does it make sense to criminalise Armenian genocide denial
anyway?
French jails would be overcrowded with Turks, proud of their history.
Those in favour of the bill emphatically say yes, the horrors of the
past must not be forgotten or denied.
The new bill is not about politics, they say, but principle.

Turkish Press
Oct 13 2006
The Biggest Conflict
Published: 10/12/2006

BY FEHMI KORU
YENI SAFAK- Why did politicians in France wait until 2001 to write a
law on the so-called Armenian genocide? France is the biggest
obstacle to Turkey’s EU membership. We know this from its stance when
decisions were taken about Turkey’s EU membership talks. France was
among the EU countries which was most opposed to the European
Constitution. When people talk about a `train crash` on the way to
the EU, everybody thinks of the possibility of our membership being
rejected through a referendum in France. France is different from all
the other European countries. However, Turkey might be one of the
closest countries to it. Ottoman intellectuals knew France as the
`West,’ and when the Westernization reforms were implemented, the
reformers took France as an example. The founders of the Republic
were Ottoman intellectuals. Naturally, France was the `level of
modern civilization’ for them.
The law on which Turkey based its administrative structure was the
product of the first half of the 19th century and translated from the
Napoleonic Code. Almost all the legislation aimed at turning Turkey
into a Western country is the product of the same era, and France was
taken as an example for this. During the early years of the Republic,
France maintained this `exemplary’ situation. Our intellectuals spoke
French and knew texts in French. In sum, although France isn’t our
soulmate, now it’s excluding and opposing itself to the country which
most resembles it in this region.
A similar analysis can be done of Armenians, which caused French
politicians to oppose Turkey just for votes. The Ottomans trusted the
Armenians the most. The Armenian people established the closest links
with Turkish society, and they were familiar with our culture and
contributed to our national heritage. Even today the presence of
Armenians who live illegally in Turkey shows that Armenians see
Turkey differently from their state. France, the country that we
resemble the most in the West, doesn’t consider it harmful to pass a
meaningless law which drives Turkey into a corner on the
international stage with the pressure of Armenia, which is fated to
get on well with us in the east. This is the biggest conflict that
we’re facing now. Not the Armenians in Armenia, but the Armenians who
live in other countries (the diaspora) are looking for revenge, and
the number of French politicians determined to pass a law punishing
those who deny the so-called Armenian genocide is small. When these
two facts come together, difficult circumstances might emerge against
Turkey. The question of why it’s happening now in France has only one
answer: France had great leaders in the past, but now it lacks a
leadership which can take responsibility on critical issues, turn its
back on petty interests, and look at problems from the vantage point
of history. Can we expect leadership from leaders who don’t realize
that this law will do the exact opposite of its stated intention?

Regnum, Russia
Oct 13 2006
NATO special representative visit to Armenia marked by launch of IPAP
– Oskanyan
Visit of NATO Special Representative for the South Caucasus and
Central Asia Robert Simmons to Armenia was marked by the launch of
the NATO Individual Partnership Action Program (IPAP), Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Armenia Vardan Oskanyan informed at a joint press
conference with Robert Simmons Oct 12 in Yerevan. REGNUM
correspondent reports the minister to inform that IPAP is being
implemented in all directions. Robert Simmons also pointed to the
progress in implementing the NATO program.
Answering a question, whether the NATO and EU programs complement
each other, Vardan Oskanyan said that the Armenian `Euro-trend
consists of the three items: NATO, the EU, and liabilities before the
Council of Europe.’ `Hence, a Coordination Council was created
according to the decision of Robert Kocharyan that is designed to
ensure that same items are not repeated in different programs.
However, the NATO and EU partnership programs are so extensive that
they complement each other.’
Robert Simmons informed that NATO mainly concentrates on the issues
of security and reform in the Armenian armed forces. Economic issues
and the human rights field are in the focus of EU and CE. The Council
of Europe is also actively engaged in organizing and running
monitoring missions during elections. Each organization has its own
priorities that, however, complement each other, the NATO special
representative explained.

Regnum, Russia
Oct 13 2006
Statement by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Vartan Oskanyan
on the French National Assembly vote
Today’s approval of the bill by the French National Assembly is a
natural continuation of France’s principled and consistent defense of
human and historic rights and values.
This decision is also a natural reaction to the intensive, aggressive
and official denialism of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish state.
They have undertaken a premeditated, planned assault on the truth.
To adopt such a decision is the French Parliament’s sovereign right
and is understandable. What we don’t understand is the Turkish
government’s instigation of extremist public reactions, especially
while Turkey itself has a law that does exactly the same thing and
punishes those who even use the term genocide or venture to discuss
those events.

Christian Science Monitor, MA
Oct 13 2006
French bill complicates Turkey’s EU bid
The French National Assembly’s move to outlaw denials of an Armenian
genocide has enraged Turkey.
By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
ISTANBUL, TURKEY – By a wide margin, the French parliament voted
Thursday to make it a criminal act to deny an Armenian genocide at
the hands of Ottoman Turks, enraging Turkey and further deepening its
suspicion of the European Union.
Islamic Turkey – which has sought for decades to join the EU and is
now in membership negotiations – vowed retaliation against France
that could disrupt billions of dollars in trade, even as both sides
explore the limits of free speech.

The vote came the same day that Orhan Pamuk, the celebrated Turkish
novelist, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Charges of
“denigrating Turkishness” against Mr. Pamuk – brought after he
publicly spoke of the killing of 1 million Armenians during World War
I, and 30,000 Kurds – were dropped earlier this year in a case seen
as a test of Turkey’s commitment to EU-driven reforms.
The two events get at the heart of contradictions in modern Turkey,
where democratic and West-leaning EU aspirations often clash with
history. The staunchly secular state – a full member of the NATO
military alliance – casts itself as an indispensable bridge between
East and West, but has yet to be accepted as such by Europe.
Many Turks see the genocide vote – a hot- button issue – as just one
more obstacle to keep them out of the 25-member EU club.
“Turks find it very hard to swallow this; even Francophile Turks
educated there are turning their backs on France,” says Sami Kohen, a
foreign affairs columnist for Milliyet newspaper. “A lot of us fear
this will further encourage critics of the EU [who] will say: ‘Enough
is enough; we should give up on this EU.’ ”
Turkish lawmakers Wednesday proposed a counter-bill that would
recognize an “Algerian genocide” carried out by colonial French
forces in 1945.
Turkish columnists are also raising France’s considerable role in
Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, as they seek to even the moral playing field.
Analysts say the French vote is likely to embolden Turkish
nationalists and those who oppose EU membership for Turkey. Recent
polls show that Turkish support for joining the EU has dropped from
nearly 70 to around 50 percent now.
To become law, the bill must pass the French senate, which is not
certain, and be signed by President Jacques Chirac. Punishment would
include a one-year prison term, and a 45,000 ($56,500) fine, the
same penalty now on French books for denying the Holocaust.
One Turkish newspaper headline took aim at France’s reputation as the
home of human rights and justice. It read: “Liberté, égalité,
stupidité.”
“Fr ench-Turkish relations, which have developed over centuries …
have been dealt a blow today as a result of the irresponsible false
claims of French politicians who do not see the political
consequences of their actions,” Turkey’s foreign ministry Abdullah
Gul said in a statement.
“If this bill is passed, Turkey will not lose anything but France
will lose Turkey,” Mr. Gul had warned before the vote. “[France] will
turn into a country that jails people who express their views.”
The vote has become a political issue in France, where a majority is
against Turkey’s membership in the EU, where 400,000 ethnic Armenians
live, and presidential elections are to be held in seven months.
French exports to Turkey in 2005 totaled $5 billion.
During a visit to Armenia last week, Mr. Chirac stated that Turkey
should not be allowed to join the EU unless it officially accepts
that the death of more than 1 million Armenians, which took place in
the last years of the Ottoman Empire, constitute a “genocide.”
Though the French government said Thursday it opposed the legislation
as “unnecessary and untimely,” Chirac says Turkey must recognize the
genocide before it joins the EU.
But while EU officials have been at pains to note that no such
genocide criterion applies to Turkey, the sentiment matches widening
unease in Europe over Turkey’s EU application. Such fears in France
are believed to be one reason the French last year rejected the
proposed EU constitution.
“France has done its best to hamper Turkey’s relations with the EU”
and has been seeking “a kind of vengeance” against Turkey since the
EU constitution failure, says Seyfi Tashan, director of the Turkish
Foreign Policy Institute in Ankara, Turkey’s capital. “So
politically, the more damage they do to Turkey, the better.”
Armenians say that 1.5 million died in 1915 in the first systematic
genocide of the 20th century, though historians often count 1
million. Turkey officially argues that some 300,000 Armenians died in
a partisan conflict that took just as many Turkish lives, when
Armenians sided with invading Russian armies during World War I.
While Turkey has declared that it would open its files to historians,
a host of Turkish writers and academics who have challenged official
versions of events, sometimes using the word “genocide,” have been
charged with insulting the state by hard-line prosecutors.
Treading that line has been Mr. Pamuk, whose novels have dug into
Turkey’s imperial past to explore the contradictions and dilemmas of
modern Turkey. The Nobel citation praised the work: “In the quest for
the melancholic soul of his native city, [Pamuk] has discovered new
symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures.” In February 2005,
Pamuk told a Swiss newspaper that “30,000 Kurds and a million
Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk
about it.”
“What I said is not an insult, it is the truth,” Pamuk said during
his trial. “But what if it is wrong? Right or wrong, do people not
have the right express their ideas peacefully?”

The Daily Star, Lebanon
Oct 13 2006
Turks rip French MPs for passing bill on Armenian genocide
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Friday, October 13, 2006
Turkey threatened unspecified measures against France Thursday after
the French Parliament passed a bill making it a crime to deny that
Turks committed genocide against Armenians during World War I. In
Ankara, angry protesters pelted the French Embassy with eggs, others
laid a black wreath at the gate of the French Consulate in Istanbul
and unions called for a trade boycott.
“We have considered measures in every field. We will activate them
seriously and soberly,” Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters.
“Our indignation is great – both on the official level and among the
people,” he added.
Gul said the Turkish Parliament will hold a special session Tuesday
to assess the situation.
The French bill – which foresees up to one year in prison and a fine
of up to 45,000 euros ($57,000) for anyone who denies that the
1915-1917 massacres of Armenians under Ottoman rule was genocide –
still needs the approval of the Senate and the president to take
effect. The French government did not support the motion and promised
on Thursday to oppose it when it gets to the Senate, but Turkey said
the damage had already been done.
Ankara warned before the vote that French companies would be barred
from major tenders, including a project for a nuclear power plant
whose tender process is expected to start soon.
“Turkish-French relations… took a heavy blow today through the
irresponsible initiatives of some short-sighted French politicians,
based on unfounded allegations,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.
“With this draft law, France is unfortunately losing its privileged
status with the Turkish people,” it said.
“We hope France will come back from this dead-end,” Gul said. “No one
should expect that Turkey will forget this as it did in 2001,” he
said, referring to a first French resolution recognizing the killings
as genocide.
Ankara also said the draft impeded free debate on a historical
subject and flouted provisions protecting freedom of expression in
the European Convention of Human Rights.
Pointing at mounting European Union pressure on Ankara to ensure
freedom of speech after several Turkish intellectuals were put on
trial for contesting the official line on the Armenian issue, Gul
said: “From now on, France will never describe itself as the homeland
of freedoms.

“It will never be proud of being the country where ideas are freely
expressed,” he added. “This shame will really be a grave one for
them.”
Ankara sees the bill as a political gesture to France’s large
Armenian community ahead of presidential elections next year.
Many also see it as a blow below the belt by opponents of Turkey’s EU
membership that will tarnish the country’s image in Europe and fan
anti-Western feeling among Turks.
Echoing that sentiment, Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc said
that the French move reflected a “hostile attitude” toward Turkey.
“It is a shameful decision. This is a hostile attitude against the
Turkish nation … It is unacceptable,” Arinc was quoted as saying by
Turkey’s official Anatolia news agency.
Members of a trade union laid a black wreath outside the French
Embassy in Ankara and at least one egg was hurled into the mission’s
garden before police seized a bag full of eggs the protesters had
brought, Anatolia reported.
Some business and consumer groups called for a boycott of French
goods.
“Each week, we will announce a French brand [to boycott] and the
boycott list will grow,” said Baris Deniz, the head of the Consumers’
Union.
“French companies must be definitely sidelined from major public
tenders, particularly in the transport, energy and defense industry
sectors,” Omer Bolat, chairman of Islamist-leaning business group
MUSIAD, told Anatolia.
But Turkish Economy Minister Ali Babacan said that his country does
not plan to boycott French products.
“As the government of Turkey, we will not be leading, we are not
going to organize such events,” Babacan said.
“But on the other hand, if in some segments of the society, some
civil actions, will do things in that line, it is up to our people,”
he said.
Bilateral trade between Turkey and France totaled $10 billion in
2005. – Agencies