Hubert Haenel: French Senate will never pass bill criminalizing Armenian Genocide denial

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.