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October 12, 2006
France: Lower House Pases "Armenia Genocide Law", European Commission Condemns Move
First, let's be clear; I'm against all laws that make it a crime to deny genocides, because a government capable of doing that to deniers may tomorrow decide to ban "hate speech" against Islam in the name of "social stability". This has in fact happenned already. But I want to concentrate on the response of the European Commission: think about this, where was the European Commission when it was white supremacists and facists being targeted by similar laws? Where was the European Commission when 'avenues of dialogue' were being destroyed? Story at EUobserver: Brussels and Ankara condemn French law on Armenia genocide
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission has condemned a French parliament vote in support of a law criminalising denial that Armenians suffered genocide by the Ottoman Turks, saying the move is likely to hinder open dialogue on Armenia in would-be EU member state Turkey."Should this law indeed enter into force, it would prohibit the debate and the dialogue which is necessary for reconciliation," said a commission spokeswoman after Paris' National Assembly vote on
Thursday (12 October) afternoon."It is not up to the law to write history, but in order to write history, historians need to be able to conduct an open debate," she added.
Armenia says Ottoman Turks in 1915 killed around 1.5 million of its citizens, something Turkey has always strongly denied.
Discussion of the issue in Turkey has been all but non-existent, with people pursuing the topic falling foul of article 301 of the country's penal code which punishes "insulting Turkishness."[...]
Posted by Ruy Diaz at October 12, 2006 3:02 PM
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