04 06 2008 - The history of France's recognition of the Armenian Genocide traces back to 1915

The history of France's recognition of the Armenian Genocide traces back to 1915
It would be incorrect to explain the disposition of the French government regarding the Armenian Genocide only through the powerful Armenian Diaspora, in spite of the assertions of Turkish and Azeri historians.

10 years ago, on May 29, 1998, the National Assembly of France passed the bill on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide committed in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 with the first reading. "France officially recognizes the Armenian Genocide of 1915," says the law, signed by the President of the National Assembly Laurent Fabius. On November 7, 2000, a similar law was passed in the Senate of France. And on January, 2001, President of France Jacque Chirac signed a law which stipulated that France recognizes the Armenian Genocide on all official levels.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On October 12, 2006, the Lower House of the French Parliament passed a bill, according to which the denial of the Armenian Genocide committed in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 is criminal offence. The document stipulates that the denial of mass killings of the Armenian people will be punished by one year imprisonment and a fine of 45.000 Euros ($ 56.4 thousand).

The history of France's recognition of the Armenian Genocide traces back to 1915, immediately after the slaughters had begun. On May 24, 1915 the Ambassadors of France, Great Britain and Russia to Constantinople sent a legal document to the US Department of States with the following content: "One month ago the Turks and the Kurds, living in the Western Armenia, with the support and cooperation of the Ottoman authorities, started the mass killing of the peaceful Armenian population of Erzrum, Van, Sasun, Bitlis, Cilicia, and Mush. At the very same time Armenian intellectuals were killed in Constantinople by the Young Turks. We call all the countries of the Entente to interfere and put an end to this brutal policy."
The Armenians living in Constantinople were in close relationship with France: many Armenian companies had their branches in Paris, the children of the Armenians studied in the University of Sorbonne, and maybe this was the reason why France became one of the first countries where the Armenian people started to move after having survived the Genocide. The Armenian Diaspora in France has more than half million and is very organized both in the political and social aspect. However it would be incorrect to explain the disposition of the French government regarding the Armenian Genocide only through the powerful Armenian Diaspora, in spite of the assertions of Turkish and Azeri historians. It is true, that Armenian Diaspora is very large in number, but it does not have enough influence to have the Parliament and President recognized the Armenian Genocide of 1915. The Turkish Diaspora in Western Europe is the largest and the richest one, but it can do nothing to fight injustice. The Turkish Diaspora only manages the showing the ruined memorials and the cemeteries for the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
The uncompromising attitude of France in this issue showed the entire world and first of all the USA and the Great Britain, that the policy of blackmail and intimidation carried out by Turkey regarding Paris does not work. And by the way, after having passed the bill about the criminal offence for denying the Armenian Genocide, the relations between Paris and Ankara even improved, in any case, regarding trade-economic relations.
Meanwhile, the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Ali Babacan in representing Turkey in 2006 during the negotiations in the EU announced that the French law violates one of the most basic principles of the EU, i.e. the freedom of opinion. "Leave the history to the historians," he said. The whole thing is that the Armenian Genocide is a historical fact and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey in this case is simply taking the desired for the reality.
By the way, the bill on the criminal offence for the denial of the Armenian Genocide will be passed by the Parliament of Slovakia by the end of 2008 and will come into effect in January – February 2009. "In Slovakia whose Parliament recognized the Armenian Genocide in 2004, there was a law about criminal liability for the denial of the Holocaust. With amendments we widen the frames of the law and expend its influence on all genocides, and in particular, on the Armenian Genocide," said the Minister of Justice, Vice-Prime Minister of Slovakia Stephan Kharapin.
«PanARMENIAN.Net» analytical department
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