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French Lawmakers Seek Rejection Of Armenian Genocide Law

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  • French Lawmakers Seek Rejection Of Armenian Genocide Law

    FRENCH LAWMAKERS SEEK REJECTION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LAW

    Voice of America
    Jan 31 2012

    French lawmakers are calling on the country's constitutional court
    to examine and overturn a new law punishing denial of the Armenian
    genocide.

    Lawmakers from both the Senate and the lower house of parliament who
    oppose the law made the appeal to the court Tuesday, saying they had
    gathered the more than 60 signatures needed to request the review.

    The court is expected to make its decision within a month. If it
    finds the law unconstitutional, the legislation will be rejected.

    Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, welcomed the
    development.

    The bill, which the French Senate approved last week, makes it a
    crime to deny that the mass killings of Armenians by Turks nearly
    100 years ago were genocide.

    Under the bill, anyone who says the killings of Armenians by Ottoman
    Turks is not genocide faces a $60,000 fine and up to one year in jail.

    Armenia says 1.5 million Armenians were killed during World War I by
    troops of Turkey's Ottoman Empire. Turkey says Armenians were killed
    as part of a civil war and says the death toll is exaggerated. It
    says the deaths do not constitute genocide.

    Prime Minister Erdogan last week denounced the law as "discriminatory
    and racist" and said Turkey would punish France with unspecified
    measures.

    Turkey briefly recalled its ambassador to France when the lower house
    passed the bill in December. It also banned the French navy from using
    its territorial waters and restricted French military jets from using
    its airspace. The French Foreign Ministry called on Turkey not to
    overreact, saying France considers Turkey a "very important ally."

    Relations between France and Turkey, both members of NATO, have
    been frozen due to French opposition to Turkey's bid to join the
    European Union.




    From: A. Papazian
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