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France's Constitutional Council Strikes Down Genocide Bill

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  • France's Constitutional Council Strikes Down Genocide Bill

    FRANCE'S CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL STRIKES DOWN GENOCIDE BILL
    By Erik West

    The Australian Eye
    http://www.theaustralianeye.com/news/frances-constitutional-council-strikes-down-genocide-bill-aoi35820640.html
    Feb 29 2012

    PARIS _ French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday ordered his
    government to return to the drawing board after the country's top
    constitutional authority struck down a controversial bill banning
    the denial of the Armenian genocide, in a decision welcomed by Turkey.

    On Jan. 23, the French parliament adopted a bill making it a crime
    to deny genocides recognized by France.

    The bill had sparked a major rift with Turkey because the only event
    France officially recognizes as genocide, besides the Holocaust during
    World War II, is the killings of hundreds of thousands of Armenians
    in eastern Turkey during World War I.

    "By opting to protect the concept of universal human rights the
    French Constitutional Court has decided in accordance with what
    everyone believes to be European morals," Turkish Foreign Minister
    Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Anatolian news agency.

    "We congratulate the court for its decision," Davutogly said.

    The bill, which was put forward by Sarkozy's party, would have punished
    people who deny the killings were genocide with a year's imprisonment
    and about $57,000 in fines.

    But the nine-member Constitutional Council, which includes former
    presidents Jacques Chirac and Valery Giscard d'Estaing as members,
    pulled the bill up short, saying it represented an "unconstitutional
    breach of the practice of freedom of expression."

    The council had been asked to vet the bill by a group of
    parliamentarians who said that, while they did not dispute the
    existence of the Armenian genocide, they believed the text violated
    some basic freedoms.

    Sarkozy in a statement said he had "taken note" of the decision and
    had ordered the government to draw up a new bill that would take the
    Constitutional Council's ruling into account.

    Sarkozy also said he would meet soon with members of France's Armenian
    community.

    Turkey had accused Sarkozy of pandering to the small but influential
    Armenian community in order to win votes in this year's presidential
    election. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the
    bill as "racist" and suspended bilateral programs.

    A spokesman for the Turkish embassy in Paris welcomed the
    Constitutional Council's decision, saying it showed that French
    institutions could be counted on to uphold freedom of expression.

    "It's good news," spokesman Engin Solakoglu told the German news agency
    dpa. "The French executive went against Franco-Turkish interests. We
    won't forget that."

    Armenians say about 1.5 million people were either killed or died
    during forced deportations in Ottoman-controlled eastern Turkey in
    1915. France is one of several countries to declare the slaughter
    constituted genocide.

    Turkey concedes hundreds of thousands of people were killed but
    rejects the genocide label, arguing there was no systematic policy
    to destroy the Armenian community.



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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