This legislation is a bad mistake and it should be quickly revoked. ... Parliaments and governments should not ... ever attempt to legislate on what historical truths are allowed and which are declared illegal.

Erkki "Zero" Tuomioja,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland
and current EU president
commenting on French regulation of history
and criminalization of opinion
October 17, 2006 (EUobserver)

While the French lower house slaps itself on the back for criminalizing opinion in France, formidable critics denounce the bill as politically regressive and putting at hazard the very ends it purports to serve.

PATRIARCH: FRENCH SABOTAGED DIALOGUE

ANKARA October 14, 2006 (Turkish Daily News) - "The French, who have raised several barriers to block Turkey's entry into the European Union, have now dealt a serious blow to dialogue between Turkey and Armenia, which is already quite restricted," Patriarch Mesrob II [the spiritual leader of the Armenians in Turkey] said in a statement.

... Mesrob II said the bill, which foresees up to one year in prison and a 45,000 euro fine for those denying the alleged genocide, would strengthen the hands of ultranationalist and racist groups in both Turkish and Armenian society.

"I deem this bill to be anti-democratic since it restricts freedom of expression for individuals," he went on to say.

The patriarch also urged a "more sensitive" stance towards Turkey's Armenians in the media, emphasizing that they are "neither diaspora Armenians nor French citizens," and expressed concerns over safety following adoption of the bill. "We, as Turkey's Armenians, feel serious pressure on us over this bill," he said, adding that the Patriarchate has asked the Istanbul Governor's Office to take measures for the security of Armenian churches and schools.

NOBEL WINNER PAMUK ATTACKS FRANCE ON GENOCIDE LAW

ANKARA October 14, 2006 (Reuters) - Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, tried at home for commenting on the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, said on Friday a French law banning the denial of the Armenian genocide went against free speech.

"Freedom of expression is a French discovery [!] and this law is contrary to the culture of freedom of expression. We must not pass a law forbidding freedom," Pamuk told Turkish broadcaster Kanal D in an interview from New York.

We were surprised to discover that freedom of expression is a French discovery. We are not sure why Mr. Pamuk should think so. All the conceptual and practical spade work is primarily Anglo-American. However, we recognize that the attribution, in the circumstances of the French bill, makes for a more damning criticism, so we give it a pass here.

FRENCH GENOCIDE LAW A 'BAD MISTAKE' SAYS FINNISH FM

BRUSSELS October 17, 2006 (EUobserver) - "Legislators should never interfere with this kind of open and introspective soul-searching and the debates it fosters," Erkki Tuomioja writes on his internet blog, as Finland currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

"Unfortunately the French National Assembly has not respected this."

"For the record I do not consider genocide an exaggerated description for what happened, and I wish the Turks were more ready to recognise this by now," he added.

France inadvertently produces a singular distinction for Turkish patriots. Erdoğan Teziç and Kamran İnan have become the first recipients of the Legion d'Honneur in the history of the order to renounce the honor.

GIVING BACK THE LEGION D'HONNEUR MEDAL:
NOW THAT'S THE WAY TO PROTEST

October 17, 2006 (Hürriyet) - Today you will read in the Turkish newspapers about a response appropriate for Chirac: that Tezic, the president of the Turkish Board of Higher Education, has decided to return his medal of honor to France. It had been awarded to him in 2002. In his letter to Chirac, Tezic underscores the problem, as he sees it, with Chirac's quick rush to deny support of the recently accepted "genocide denial" bill:

"In statements, you bring to attention over and over again that the French government was outside of and not involved in this initiative by parliament members to approve the bill. But during an official visit to Armenia at the start of October, you expressed the view that 'Turks did commit a genocide against the Armenians.' In saying so, you clearly made this issue French state policy. ... I can no longer carry the 'Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur' medal which was awarded to me."

Tezic, in returning his Legion d'Honneur, has become the first person ever to do so. These actions need no more words to explain them; when you say 'protest,' this is the way to do it.

FORMER MINISTER RETURNS FRENCH MEDAL IN PROTEST

ANKARA October 18, 2006 (Turkish Daily News) - [Former minister Kamran İnan] returned a Legion d'Honneur medal that had been presented to him by former French President Francois Mitterrand with a letter to the French Embassy in Ankara attached to it, the Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday. "Following the hostile decisions made against my country by the French parliament and the government, I cannot keep the medal," İnan was quoted as saying by Anatolia in the letter.

UPDATE 10.19.06:

OSCE PRESS FREEDOM WATCHDOG URGES FRENCH SENATE
TO REJECT ARMENIA GENOCIDE BILL
VIENNA October 17, 2006 (IHT/AP)

FRENCH BILL 'HUMILIATES TURKS' SAYS TOP CATHOLIC CLERIC

ROME October 18, 2006 (AKI) - Proposed French legislation which would make it a criminal offence to deny that the early 20th century massacre of mostly Catholic Armenians under the Muslim Ottoman empire amounted to genocide appears aimed to "humiliate Turks," the Catholic Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia, Luigi Padovese, has said. Padovese's remarks in an interview in with Adnkronos International (AKI), come in the wake of the French lower house of parliament's approval of the bill last week. It still needs to be passed by the upper house senate to become law.

"Even the fact that French president Jacques Chirac has taken a stance against the bill is significant," said Padovese, arguing that the anger provoked by issue threatens to rekindle animosity between Turkey's overwhelmingly Muslim population and its tiny Christian community.

PFFT (What is this?): Flare to France 4¾ | Rayonnement français 0