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ISTANBUL: Analyzing France's Armenian bill

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  • ISTANBUL: Analyzing France's Armenian bill

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    Jan 4 2012

    Analyzing France's Armenian bill


    by Ramazan Gözen*
    4 January 2012 / ,

    The French National Assembly approved a bill to punish those who deny
    Armenian allegations about the 1915 incidents with a prison term of
    one year and a fine of 45,000 euros.
    Although not as yet signed into law, this initiative as such is
    against the objective norms of law, logic and reason. It is known that
    the bill was passed not with the purpose of protecting rights or the
    law but out of concerns for French domestic politics.

    It is nothing other than a distressful period in history being
    exploited for political ploys. That the bill was passed by only 10
    percent of the members who make up the French parliament was in itself
    odd. That may be in line with French law, but it is openly in
    contravention of the understanding of universal law. This bill, which
    is likely to deeply impact France's domestic and foreign policy,
    having been accepted by such a small group, is a strange development
    even for French democracy. Why this maneuver, employed by vote-hungry
    President Nicolas Sarkozy, who aspires to entice more people to his
    side and his party, is going to be binding on the French people is
    also difficult to comprehend. Whether or not it is going to be a law
    aside, even the making of such a decision has already inflicted damage
    on relations.

    The second dimension of the damage concerns Turkish-French relations.
    Turkey, which has strongly reacted to the bill, has taken an
    anti-France stance. The government has decided to take measures
    against France, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an has
    unveiled an eight-measure package to this end. These measures, unless
    developments in the opposite direction take place on the French side,
    are bound to damage the interests of the two countries. We believe
    that the bigger of the damages will be to the centuries old system of
    Western institutions and values of which Turkey also wants to be a
    part.

    The most damaging of all is the violation of freedom of thought and
    expression, which is the most vital dimension of the human rights and
    freedoms the Western system is built on. While there is permission for
    coming up with the allegations of a so-called genocide, denying those
    the freedom to say just the opposite of that is clearly a legal
    inequality. Everyone should be expected to have the right to think and
    express even the most radical and misbegotten idea. Even the person
    who rejects a universally acknowledged piece of information, such as
    the world is round, should have the freedom to express it no matter
    what his justification may be. Having freedom of expression does not
    mean that he is to be taken into consideration.

    Bulding a wall before the freedom of thought

    No thought or view should be limited, inhibited and sealed within
    barriers unless it is a slur against the personality and identity of
    others or usurps their rights. Building a wall before the freedom of
    thought and expression is simply undemocratic and a violation of law.
    The decision made by the French National Assembly flatly conflicts
    with fundamental laws and ethical norms. Everyone should have the
    right to express whatever they think of the 1915 incidents. The bill
    is also against the policies and values championed by the EU, which is
    pungently critical of the democracy and human rights issues in non-EU
    countries. That the EU has always criticized Turkey on the grounds of
    freedom of thought and expression violations and that the European
    Court of Human Rights has fined Turkey millions of euros using the
    same arguments is very well known. The decision made by France in just
    the opposite direction, when there are many decisions against Turkey
    and a lot of other countries, is simply an affront to the EU. France
    has cornered not only itself but also the EU by behaving the way it
    has. If the EU cannot stop that, its status, already tarnished
    economically and financially, will also be called into question in
    terms of law and politics.

    Erosion of the legal and freedom values of the EU besides its economic
    and financial malaise will have an unfavorable impact on the
    peripheral regions of Europe in political, social, cultural and even
    security affairs. More importantly, the whole of Turkey, including its
    citizens and administrators, will get more anti-France and anti-EU,
    the signs of which can already be discerned. The reactions by Turkey
    to France have increased considerably in the past week. Not only will
    these reactions deal a blow to Turkish-French relations, they will
    also have an undesirable reflection on France in Turkey and Turkey in
    France. It is obvious this deterioration in bilateral ties is in the
    interests of neither Turkey nor France.

    The so-called Armenian genocide problems cannot be resolved in this
    way but activate the potential to worsen them to the extent they can
    become insoluble. It may mutually spawn ultranationalist and radical
    tendencies and movements. If the aim of the French National Assembly
    is to politically isolate Turkey, tear it away from the EU and put
    pressure on its foreign policy -- if there is such a deep scheme
    behind all that maneuvering -- the country to be harmed the most is
    firstly France. The signals of that have already been seen in the
    international media. The world media have come up with views that
    France's move will draw reactions from almost all countries, Turkey in
    particular. Finally, the French National Assembly's decision may have
    pleased the Armenian diaspora, but it has certainly made for unease
    among Turkish citizens of Armenian origin.


    *Dr. Ramazan Gözen is an instructor at Abant İzzet Baysal University.

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