On December 22 the National Assembly of France will put to voting the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial and making it punishable with imprisonment and a fine. After the voting the bill will be submitted to the French Senate.
The Turkish foreign ministry immediately voiced its objections.
Stating that the bill “happens to be on the parliament agenda of France in the pre-election campaign period” the Turkish foreign ministry statement says: “The French authorities know how sensitive our country is to that very serious issue. In the period when the possibilities of Turkey-France cooperation can enter a stage of stable development such initiatives can have a negative outcome.”
The statement also reads that “the party that has initiated it will be responsible for the consequences”.
Hence, Ankara is practically threatening Paris with negative consequences for the bilateral relations.
Earlier this year the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a religious freedom measure, HR306 approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee in July, calling upon Turkey to return the Christian church properties it stole through genocide and to end its repression of the surviving members of the vast Christian civilizations that once represented a majority in the territory of the present-day Turkey.
The importance of this document approved in Washington is that the United States’ legislative power is continuing the process despite the fact that after the Foreign Affairs Committee’s approval in July Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdoan signed a decree on return of Christian church property confiscated after the 1930s.
Congressman Royce’s statement is of interest, in this respect: “Despite Prime Minister Erdogan's recent claims of progress on religious freedom, Turkey’s Christian communities continue to face severe discrimination.”
All these essentially irreversible processes show that history keeps tightening its grip over Turkey, despite her fierce resistance. And not only history - this country is finding herself in a not less tighter grip of also modern times.
On the other hand, all of it fits into political pragmatism, matching the historic truth. Campaign vows and promises to Armenian communities in countries like the United States and France lead to apparently tangible and substantial progress in the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and criminalization of its denial.
The issue is whether the Diaspora and the Armenian state will be able to use it to their best advantage.
Information was released on December 13 about the decision of attorneys general of four American states who had joined their Californian colleague Kamala Harris supporting the constitutionality of California’s Armenian Genocide Life Insurance Recovery Act and reaffirming an earlier ruling by a 3-member panel of the same court.
It became known also that a session of the Israeli Knesset’s Committee on Education, Culture and Sports is scheduled for late December to discuss the Armenian Genocide recognition issue. And, to top it all, the Israeli foreign ministry, too, will announce its position on the issue.
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.jpg "Karabakh Issue: Can resolution by smallest state indicate changing Western attitude to Armenia?")
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