TURKEY | 31.01.2012
Turkey welcomes French senators' move to block genocide bill
A group of French senators has appealed to France's Constitutional Council to block a law that would punish anyone who denied the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1917 by Ottoman Turks.
France has considered the massacre as genocide for some time, but last week, the French Senate angered Turkey when it passed a law criminalizing denial of the Armenian genocide.
On Tuesday, however, a group of left-wing senators said they had collected enough signatures to force the measure to undergo a review of its constitutionality. Sixty signatures are needed to bring a law before the Constitutional Council. The senators said they had collected over 70.
Law could be rejected
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised the senators' move.
"This move is in keeping with what we would expect from France. I hope the Constitutional Council will do what is necessary," Erdogan was quoted as saying on the private NTV station.
When the law was passed on January 23, Erdogan called the measure "discriminatory and racist." Ankara cancelled all economic, political and military meetings with Paris in response.
France's Constitutional Council has up to a month to reach a decision on the law's constitutionality, which could result in a rejection of the law.
As it currently stands, the law punishes deniers of the Armenian genocide with up to a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros ($57,000).
Author: Matt Zuvela (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Gregg Benzow
Editor: Gregg Benzow
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