France's Armenian genocide law

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Alan

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PARIS — France's new law punishing denial of the Armenian genocide was put on hold Tuesday after politicians opposed to the legislation demanded that its constitutionality be examined.

Turkey reacted furiously last week when the Senate approved the law which threatens with jail anyone in France who denies that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's office brushed off angry threats of retaliation by Turkey and vowed to enforce the law within a fortnight.

But on Tuesday two separate groups of French politicians who oppose the legislation -- from both the Senate and the lower house of parliament -- said they had formally requested the constitutional council to examine the law.

The groups said they each had gathered more than the minimum 60 signatures required to ask the council to test the law's constitutionality.

"This is an atomic bomb for the Elysee (Sarkozy's office) which didn't see it coming," said deputy Lionel Tardy, who said that most of the 65 signatories from the lower house were, like him, from Sarkozy's UMP party.

The council is obliged to deliver its judgement within a month, but this can be reduced to eight days if the government deems the matter urgent.

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan immediately welcomed the development.

"I hope the constitutional council will do what is necessary," said Erdogan, while Gul said he was "not expecting the French from the very beginning to let their country be overshadowed" by the genocide law.

France has already officially recognised the killings as a genocide, but the new law would go further by punishing anyone who denies this with up to a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros ($57,000).

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed in 1915 and 1916 by the forces of Turkey's former Ottoman Empire.

Turkey disputes the figure, arguing that 500,000 died, and denies this was genocide, ascribing the toll to fighting and starvation during World War I and accusing the Armenians of siding with Russian invaders.

Erdogan last week denounced the law as "tantamount to discrimination and racism" and warned that his Islamist-rooted government would punish Paris with unspecified retaliatory measures if Sarkozy signed it into law.

Ankara has already halted political and military cooperation with France and was threatening to cut off economic and cultural ties.

Trade between the two states was worth 12 billion euros ($15.5 billion) in 2010, with several hundred French businesses operating in Turkey.

Armenia hailed the passage of the bill through the French Senate, with President Serzh Sarkisian writing in a letter to Sarkozy: "France has reaffirmed its greatness and power, its devotion to universal human values."

Around 20 countries have officially recognised the killings as genocide.

Amnesty International has criticised the French law, saying it would violate freedom of expression.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/af...ocId=CNG.6b1385dde28d74d4c63865663f0d0c3c.2f1

Surely this will fail a test of it's constitutionality
 
what happens if you deny the genocide of the jews in ww2
 
Apache said:
what happens if you deny the genocide of the jews in ww2
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Same thing, you also get fined.

Hope that France overcomes this challenge quickly, it is important that this ban on the deniability of the Armenian genocide is reinstated.
 
its about who has the strongest lobby group when it come to denying or not denying a genocide and the laws governing that
 
This is just as retarded as a genocide denialist. Lets be honest though, this is just another law to get rid of the Moslems, why are the French being so politically correct and just admit that they don't want them there.
 
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marine1 said:
Did it happen? If yes then what's the problem?
If we forget the past we are doomed to repeat it !!
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The Turks refuse to admit that they committed this genocide, and do all that they can to destroy evidence.

But, yes, it did happen, and the Turks denying it will not make the facts go away.
 
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It is a tough call... I am all for Freedom of Speech, but in certain cases Racist and Genocidal speech can instigate and lead to more violence, so surely that kind of speech has to be outlawed.
Those who deny the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide usually have a very Racist Agenda, and should be coerced with such legistlation to re-examine their views and adopt a more tolerant demeanor.
 
marine1 said:
Did it happen? If yes then what's the problem?
If we forget the past we are doomed to repeat it !!
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So it is a good thing to have idiots go on about anti sementism or the anc constantly referring to apartheid?

Let the past go and we can move forward, way too many people get caught living in the past. All that happens when you remember the past is hatred.
 
killadoob said:
So it is a good thing to have idiots go on about anti sementism or the anc constantly referring to apartheid?

Let the past go and we can move forward, way too many people get caught living in the past. All that happens when you remember the past is hatred.
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No What I am agreeing with is you cannot DENY it happened. If you deny it you should be in a mental institution
 
marine1 said:
No What I am agreeing with is you cannot DENY it happened. If you deny it you should be in a mental institution
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What difference does it make though? So someone denies an atrocity. OMG no the world is going to end.

Seriously it happened in 1915, there are way bigger issues in 2012 than worrying about what happened in 1915
 
killadoob said:
What difference does it make though? So someone denies an atrocity. OMG no the world is going to end.
Seriously it happened in 1915, there are way bigger issues in 2012 than worrying about what happened in 1915
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Yeah, I can see why you would want the world to forget Muslim atrocities... but the fact of the matter is that remembering these tragic events helps us prevent them again in the future.
 
killadoob said:
So it is a good thing to have idiots go on about anti sementism or the anc constantly referring to apartheid?

Let the past go and we can move forward, way too many people get caught living in the past. All that happens when you remember the past is hatred.
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But not if you are American ? :)
 
Garyvdh said:
Yeah, I can see why you would want the world to forget Muslim atrocities... but the fact of the matter is that remembering these tragic events helps us prevent them again in the future.
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Hugely ironic that lately its the western countries who are pointing out atrocities and the "progressive" regimes which are doing their best to sweep them under the carpet and veto at every opportunity.
 
I see this law being abused. I see a French man asking a Turkish man "Hey you, true or false, Turkey's actions regarding to Armenia amounted to genocide? Answer me" Call the popo :D
 
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