Expert: Bundestag’s decision on Genocide depends on French constitutional council

PanARMENIAN.Net - The decision of Germany’s Bundestag on the petition criminalizing the denial of genocides recognized by the Federal Republic of Germany, including the Armenian Genocide, will depend on the judgment of the constitutional council of France, deputy director of Caucasus Institute said.

“If the judgment is positive, the petition is more likely to be adopted in Germany; otherwise further development of events is hard to predict,” Sergey Minasyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

Responding to the question about probability of a chain reaction of adopting similar bills throughout Europe, Minasyan noted that “no chain reaction is possible in this case, because adoption of laws on Genocide is subject to the rules of politics but not physics, which say that the parties must be interested in this issue.”

“France demonstrates an example of strong counteraction, on the one hand, and political elite striving to pass the given bill, on the other hand,” he added.

The Petitions Committee of German Bundestag will discuss the issue of criminalization of denial of genocides recognized by the Federal Republic of Germany during one of its forthcoming sessions.

In response to the petition submitted on January 26, 2012, the Bundestag Commission informed the department of genocide recognition headed by Dr. Tessa Hofmann about its intention to discuss the issue,” a source in Germany earlier told PanARMENIAN.Net

In June 2005, the German Bundestag unanimously adopted the Resolution on the Armenian Genocide sponsored by the Christian Democratic Union/ Christian Social Union without discussion.

The document was titled "Commemoration of Victims and Deportation of Armenians in 1915: Germany has to participate in reconciliation of Armenians and Turks". Though the document does not directly mention recognition of the Armenian Genocide, it notes that “many independent historians, as well as parliaments of many countries and international organizations call events of 1915 a genocide.”

On January 23, the French Senate passed the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial with 127 votes for and 86 against. Expected to be signed into law by President within 14 days, the bill will impose a 45,000 euro fine and a year in prison for anyone in France who denies this crime against humanity committed by the Ottoman Empire.

Two separate groups of French politicians who oppose the legislation - from both the Senate and the lower house - said they had formally requested the constitutional council 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.

The council is expected to deliver its judgment by March 1. French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to circulate a new bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial in case the constitutional council recognizes the January 23 bill as contradicting the constitution.