French authorities don’t share Council’s stance on Genocide – Hay Dat rep.

PanARMENIAN.Net - The head of Hay Dat French office is confident that the stance of French authorities on Armenian Genocide denial remains unchanged.

In a conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, Hrach Varzhapetian cited Turkish pressure and underhand intrigues behind the French Constitutional Council’s ruling that the bill punishing Armenian Genocide denial is unconstitutional.

The politician expressed surprise over the Council’s decision, clearly running counter to positions of President Sarkozy, French parliament, and opposition leader Francois Hollande.

In this context, Varzhapetian reiterated Sarkozy’s pledge to re-draft the law punishing the denial of the Armenian Genocide.

“The Armenian community of France plans to draw up a new Genocide bill in the immediate future. We’ll never give up,” Varzhapetian stressed.

The French Constitutional Council ruled that a bill recently adopted by the French Senate making it a crime to deny the Armenian Genocide was anti-constitutional.

In a statement the Council said the bill adopted by parliament on January 23 represented an “unconstitutional breach of the practice of freedom of expression and communication.”

Turkey reacted furiously when the Senate approved the law. Ankara halted political and military cooperation with France and was threatening to cut off economic and cultural ties if the law took effect.