http://www.gulfnews.com/world/France/10074368.html
French lawmakers approve Armenia genocide Bill Reuters Paris: France's lower house of parliament yesterday approved a Bill making it a crime to deny Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, provoking anger in Turkey and raising fresh doubts about its EU ambitions. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the vote would hurt ties between the two Nato allies and analysts warned it would complicate Turkey's efforts to secure European Union membership. The Bill might never become law because it still needs the approval of the upper house Senate and president, but French business fears it will suffer an immediate backlash in Turkey. Turkey denies accusations of a genocide of some 1.5 million Armenians during the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in First World War, arguing that Armenian deaths were a part of general partisan fighting in which both sides suffered. However, France's Armenian community, which at about 500,000-strong is one of the largest in Europe, had pushed hard for the Bill and found cross-party support in parliament. Yesterday's motion was carried by 106 votes to 19. The legislation establishes a one-year prison term and a 45,000 euro (Dh207,314) fine for anyone denying the genocide - the same sanction as for denying the Nazi genocide of Jews. "Does a genocide committed in First World War have less value than a genocide committed in Second World War? Obviously not," Philippe Pomezec, a parliamentarian with the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), said during the debate. The French government did not support the motion and yesterday promised to oppose it when it gets to the Senate, but Turkey said the damage had already been done. "French-Turkish relations ... have been dealt a blow today as a result of the irresponsible false claims of French politicians who do not see the political consequences of their actions," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
