AKP member: Sarkozy instructed his party to hamper Armenian Genocide bill

PanARMENIAN.Net - A potential extra hurdle between Turkish-French relations was removed when the French president supported the rejection of a bill that would have made it a punishable offence to deny the Armenian Genocide, a Turkish official said.

“Turkish leaders and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have made a deal to underline common interests rather than disagreements in bilateral relations. Thus, the French president has given instructions to his party members to restrain bills such as the recent Armenian initiative,” Yasar Yakis, deputy of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, who traveled to France prior to the vote, told the Hurriyet Daily News on Thursday.

The upper house of the French parliament on Wednesday failed to approve a bill penalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide. The senate voted 196 to 74 to block a formal debate on the issue. The bill, which was drafted by lawmakers from the opposition Socialist Party, was adopted by the French lower house, the National Assembly, in 2006 amid protests from Ankara.

Yakis recently traveled to France lobbying against the bill with a delegation consisting of representatives specializing in foreign politics from political parties in Parliament. The lobbying activities of the Turkish delegation took affect along with Sarkozy’s instructions, he said, adding this incident could pave the way to open a new page in Turkish-French bilateral relations, which faces ups and downs.

It’s unlikely for the French Senate to take a similar bill to the agenda “unless a crucial breakdown destroys bilateral relations,” Yakis said. “If the bill was rejected with a minor difference in the Senate, then Armenians could attempt to bring the issue to the agenda, yet that has low possibility now,” he added.

French Minister of Justice Michel Mercier on Wednesday said they oppose a law penalizing Armenian Genocide denial, yet he revived a circular that could be issued addressing all chief prosecutors in order to monitor discriminations against Armenian society. He stressed that the circular could be an alternative to the failed bill that would have made denying the Genocide punishable.

“The bill has not drafted yet. But it will come into force due to a current French law, which punishes any incitement to discrimination, hatred or racial violence,” an official from French Embassy told the Daily News on Thursday. The official said there was no legal base in French law to condemn denial of Armenian Genocide.