Turkey’s recognition of Genocide will turn tragic page of 1915 – French MP

December 22, 2011 - 13:29 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Only Turkey’s acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide will turn the tragic page of 1915 events, chairperson of France-Armenia interparliamentary friendship group said.

“I understand the pain of French Armenians. The deliberate massacre of Armenians in 1915 under Yougn Turks government must be acknowledged,” he told the French National Assembly. “Distortion of history and annihilation of cultural heritage remain unpunished. As a sovereign state France cannot keep silent.”

MP Jean-Paul Lecoq, in turn, stressed that France must suppress the policy of denial. “This issue should not turn into a political tool. We are openly discussing the crimes France committed in the past,” Lecoq said.

Today, December 22, the French parliament is to debate the bill, which envisages a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros for those who publicly deny the Armenian Genocide in France.

Turkey has piled pressure on France to drop the law ahead of the vote, with President Abdullah Gul and a Turkish delegation to Paris warning its adoption will spark a diplomatic crisis and have economic consequences.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu threatened to introduce a bill on “the genocide committed by France in Algeria, where 45000 local residents died in 1945.” PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu laid “the responsibility of possible worsening of relations between Paris and Ankara on Nicolas Sarkozy.”