Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka
Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
.TImes - 19 Jan 2001
-French~l;;egislation-ealls Armenians' DeathsGenocide-
By JOHN-lHOR
DAHLBURG, TImes Staff Writer
PARIS-In a landmark victory for the Armenian diaspora, France on Thursday became the first major Western
nation to pass legislation branding as genocide the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the
Ottoman Turks dUring and after World War 1. As well as setting the historical record straight, in the view of
Armenians, the legislation could open the floodgates to lawsuits against Turkey and demands for large-scale legal
compensation akin to that paid to Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust
Turkey reacted instantly to the unanimous vote in the Natiornll Assembly, recalling its ambassador to France for
consultations. "This law, greeted with great disappointment by the Turkish people, is going to seriously and dura-
.bly damage Turkish-French relationS and could cause a serious crisis," the Turkish government said in a communique.
In October, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives abruptly canceled a vote on a similar
resolution after President Clinton warned that it could harm relations with Turkey, a key North Atlantic Treaty
Organization ally and longtim:e friend at the strategic crossroads of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. French
Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine had voiced grave qualms last year over the action, which could set France and
Turkey at loggerheads, as well as harm French business interests. Many lawmakers insisted Thursday that their.
decision shouldn't be taken as a hostile act against present-day Turkey. The text they adopted, in fact, made no
specific mention of Turkey, saying only that "France publicly recognizes the Armenian genocide of 1915." "By
approving such a text, in no way are we condemning a country that is knocking on the door of the European
Union," said Francois Rochebloine of the center-right Union for French Democracy, who sponsored the bill. "Quite
to the contrary, this is tracing for [Turkey] the way of an opening toward respect of human rights and the establishment
of confident relations with its neighbors."
In Turkey, some observers worried that the resolution plays into the hands of the anti-European lobby in that
country. Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian and the managing editor of the Turkish-Armenian Agos newspaper,
said: "I don't understand what France is trying to do. What is Europe trying to do? On the one hand, a Europe that
invites Turkey-on the other, one that seeks to alienate Turkey at all costs without openly saying so. "I don't want
the Armenian people to become a political pawn between governments. For me, it is a thousand times more
valuable and important for the Turkish to investigate their own past honestly and openly, to show empathy with
the Armenians, than for a thousand European parliaments to pass a genocide resolution."
Only about 50 of the 577 members of the National Assembly, the lower house of France's bicamerallegislature,
were present for the vote Thursday. The deputies gave themselves a.standing .ovation. Outside Parliament, hundreds
of men and women of Armenian origin gathered to clap and to shout, "Thank you, France!" The measure,
which.had been under debate in the French Parliament for 2 1/2 years, passed the Senate in November. President
Jacques Chirac must sign the legislation for it to become law. Asked Thursday if Chirac would do so, Patrick
Devidjian, spokesman for the president's Rally for the Republic Party and a Frenchman of Armenian descent,
replied, "Of course." "When the United States has recognized the Armenian genocide, Turkey will. have to do the
same itself-that's the ultimate goal," Devidjian said. "From that moment on, a page in history will have been turned,
and a different kind of relation can begin between the survivors and Turkey."
At.a news conference, Ara Krikorian, president of the Defense Committee for the Armenian Cause, said he hopes
that the legislation will mean that.people questioning the reality of the Armenian genocide could henceforth be
prosecuted under the .same legislation that makes it a crime in France to deny the Nazi campaign to annihilate
European Jewry. He said school history books also should be revised to mention the Armenian genocide more
explicitly. From 1915 to 1923, according to most historians, the Ottoman Empire, then in its death throes, organized
massacres and large-scale deportations of Armenians to Syria. The Armenians were accused of collaboration
with Russia, which occupied northern Turkey. The Armenians put the number of lives lost at 1.2 million to 1.5 million.
Turkey has denied thàt a genocide of its ethnic Armenians took place. Although Turkey acknowledges that
as many as 600,000 Armenians were left dead, Turkish officials say most died of exposure to the elements and starvation
during their forced displacement by Ottoman forces.
In 1994, the Belgian Senate referred to the genocide at a time when Brussels was appalled by massacres in Rwanda.
In 1996, Greece's Parliament designated April24 as a day to remember the "genocide of Armenians by the Turkish
regime.'! Two months ago, the Italian Chamber of Deputies adopted a resolution asking Italy's government to
request that Tw:kish authorities recognize the Armenian genoci~e before Turke! can join .the Europe~ Union.
Turkish officials, however, said Thursday's action was the most direct and potentially damagmg of the actions. The
widespread fear in Ankara, the Turkish capil:éÛ, is that other European parliaments will follow France's lead-and
that members of the Armenian diaspora whose relatives died or were forced to flee Turkey between 1915 and 1923
might file compensation and territorial claims against the Turkish government. • •• Special correspondent Arnberin
Zaman in Ankara contributed to this report.
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