TURKEY: Draft of law allowing penalty for "denying the genocide done in Algeria" and "accepting the genocide in Armenia" discussed in Turkish parliament commission

The justice commission of the Turkish Parliament discussed the law drafts which will allow a penalty for "denying the genocide done in Algeria", and "accepting the genocide in Armenia" on Wednesday 11 Oct. The Commission decided to send the draft to a subcommittee which will research and prepare for the commission. Commission chairman, Koksal Toptan said the subcommittee, which will be supported by historians, diplomats and academics, must prepare the draft as soon as possible. "It has been said that judging this is not the job of politicians but of historians and social scientists and there is no need to prepare laws about this. I hope this will be example to all Europe including France," said Toptan. Drafts propose, prison and money penalties for individuals, and organisations who express the existence of genocide to Armenian people and deny the genocide in Algeria. Meanwhile protests are increasing one day ahead of the debate in the French Parliament which will make it punishable by law to deny the Armenian genocide. Ankara denies charges that 1.5 million Armenians perished in a genocide, saying large numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks died in a partisan conflict raging at that time. Though the conservative majority in France's parliament opposes the bill, EU-applicant Turkey fears many opponents will not vote against it for fear of upsetting France's 400,000-strong Armenian diaspora ahead of elections next year. Paris ruled Algeria with an iron fist from 1830 to 1962. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has repeatedly called on France to admit its part in the massacre of 45,000 Algerians who took to the streets to demand independence as Europe celebrated victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.

ITN Source | October 12, 2006

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