Hubert Haenel: French Senate will never pass bill criminalizing Armenian Genocide denialOctober 24, 2008 - 15:52 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The French Senate "will never adopt the bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide," a prominent leader in the Senate said. In 2006, the French National Assembly adopted the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. The bill was blocked by the Senate, but the vote in the lower house of the parliament dealt a blow to bilateral relations between Turkey and France. "The issue is closed. The Senate will never adopt this law," said Hubert Haenel, president of the Senate's Commission for European Union Affairs when addressing a seminar titled "The Republic in France and Turkey" at Bilgi University in Istanbul. He said the atmosphere between the two countries had changed, implying also that there was a different conjecture that would also make it difficult for the Senate to make a decision that would damage bilateral relations, the Turkish Daily News reports. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |