On October 12, 2006 the National Assembly of France adopted a bill that would make it a crime to deny the Armenian Genocide with 106 votes “for” and 19 “against”. If the bill is ratified by the higher chamber, the Senate, and is signed by the president of the French Republic, those who deny the fact of the Armenian Genocide in France will face up to five years of imprisonment or a fine in the amount of 45,000 Euros. It should be remembered that there is a law in France envisaging criminal liability for denying the Holocaust.

Political affairs director of the Hay Dat office of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutiun (ARF) Kiro Manoyan accepted that political calculations had played a role here but it was not only because of these calculations that the National Assembly of France adopted the bill. He didn't rule out that the Senate too would pass the bill and that in such event the French president would sign it into law.

“There is a political consideration, not necessarily vis-à-vis Armenians but Turks, if one takes into account the general attitude against Turkey's membership in the European Union in France, where the majority of the population opposes it. Even President Jacque Chirac stated that the issue of Turkey's membership in the EU must be put to a referendum in France. Bearing in mind that such a political consideration exists, I don't rule out that the Senate too will approve the bill. Only the president's signature will remain. And if they indeed don't want to make it a law they will prevent the Senate from passing the bill. But, I think that after going through all these stages the Senate will pass it, otherwise it would mean that it was intended just to make Turkey nervous without any tangible result,” Manoyan said.

The French government announced that it didn't support the bill making the denial of the Genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Turkey in the early twentieth century a crime. The French Foreign Ministry noted that the bill still had to be considered by the Senate. “It is just the beginning of a lengthy legislative process. The government will continue to announce its attitude toward the bill at every stage of the process,” the statement by the Foreign Ministry read.

The European Union, whose legislature had earlier recognized the Armenian Genocide, criticized the French Parliament for adopting the bill. The European Union's Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn, said that the bill was “counterproductive”.

Reporters Without Borders has also condemned the adoption of the bill, saying that the act was incompatible with France's fundamental values, starting with freedom of expression. “It seems to us that this legalistic concept of history will be much more likely to stoke up antagonism rather than promote debate,” the statement read. Reporters Without Borders stressed it was “particularly symbolic that this vote should have been held on the same day of the awarding of the Nobel Prize for literature to Orhan Pamuk, who was himself taken to court by the Turkish authorities for having raised the issue of this genocide.”

Ankara reacted more than unhappy and nervously, calling the bill a “black spot”. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul of Turkey said that this event would not fall into oblivion as was the case in 2001 when the French Parliament adopted a law recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Turkey's Parliament backed last Tuesday a declaration condemning the French National Assembly's approval of the bill. “Naturally, approval of the draft by the French Parliament will inflict irreparable damage on political, economic and military relations between Turkey and France,” the declaration said.

In 2001 when the French Parliament recognized the Genocide, Turkey threatened to apply economic sanctions, revise trade agreements, and prevent French companies from participating in tenders, but just one month later all relations were restored. The Turkish threats of five years ago remained just threats.

“Now, when Turks are again making the same threats one might say that France is ignoring them and this is what perhaps makes Ankara unhappy and nervous. The international reaction was indeed unprecedented; I have dealt with the issue of international recognition of the Genocide for 25 years but I have never seen such a reaction. Turks have helped us a lot – the clamor raised by them has multiplied our even modest efforts. And the day the bill was approved was indeed unlucky for Turkey because gifted writer Orhan Pamuk, who has, in some way or another, recognized the Armenian Genocide, was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. For the international mass media these two events together became the news of the day,” Manoyan said.

Two years ago in an interview with a Swiss newspaper, Orhan Pamuk stated that “a million of Armenians and 30,000 Kurds” were killed in Turkey and no one except for him dared to raise the issue in Turkey. For this statement criminal proceeding were instituted against the writer in his home country.

Incidentally, Orhan Pamuk has also criticized the adoption of the bill by the French Parliament saying that it “flouted France's tradition of liberal and critical thinking”.

The Reaction of official Yerevan

As is known, the issue of the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide is on Armenia's foreign policy agenda but, on the other hand, Yerevan declares that it is not a precondition for establishing diplomatic relations with Turkey.

“The approval of the bill by the French National Assembly is a natural continuation of France's principled and consistent defense of human and historic rights and values. This decision is also a natural reaction to the intensive, aggressive and official denialism of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish state. They have undertaken a premeditated, planned assault on the truth. To adopt such a decision is the French Parliament's sovereign right and is understandable. What we don't understand is the Turkish government's instigation of extremist public reactions, especially while Turkey itself has a law that does exactly the same thing and punishes those who even use the term genocide or venture to discuss those events,” Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian stated.

At the same time the Armenian Parliament, preoccupied with the “sacred cause” of fighting against criminals in power and with participating in the televised show about whether to deprive parliament member Hakob Hakobyan of parliamentary immunity or not, completely ignored the initiative by their French colleagues.

On the agenda of the October 13, 2006 extraordinary session of the parliament of Armenia was one question – the Hakob Hakobyan case. Only parliament member Hmayak Hovhannissyan remembered the decision adopted by the French parliamentarians the day before. Later the vice-speaker of the parliament, Vahan Hovhannisyan, told reporters that “it would have been better to begin the parliament session by expressing our gratitude to our French colleagues for adopting the bill making a crime the denial of the Armenian Genocide.”

The Reaction of Official Baku

“It is with great surprise and concern that we followed development of the deliberations of the French Parliament's lower house and ensuing vote on the legislation to make denial of the so-called ‘Armenian genocide' illegal in France. Unfortunately, Armenia and its Diaspora continue to play a very destructive role in the ongoing developments in the region, instead of contributing to peace and stability.

”With full understanding that this initiative needs to be ratified by the Senate, we urge the French Parliament to apply a more careful, impartial, and balanced approach,” the statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan read.

“The approval by the French Parliament of the bill making the denial of the so-called ‘Armenian genocide' illegal once again proves how far that country is from the principles of justice and impartiality and its bias toward the Turks. A co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, France is losing its credibility from day to day and that country has no moral right to continue its mediating mission in the process of the Karabakh conflict settlement. From this standpoint, Azerbaijan must reject French mediation and ensure the withdrawal of France from the Minsk Group,” read the statement by the national assembly of 400 Azerbaijani NGOs.

Baku's nervousness is more understandable. The Azerbaijani authorities are trying to support their Turkish brethrens by all means since the latter has blockaded Armenia since 1993 in solidarity with Azerbaijan in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. There are apparently concerns in Baku that after all Turkey might give in to pressure from the European Union and establish diplomatic relations with Yerevan.

Is it possible that Ankara might give in? Kiro Manoyan thinks that Turkey will not provide a positive answer anytime soon. “The opening of the border is not a one-day action and the decisions by the European parliament often remind Turkey about that. The opening of borders is an urgent matter, but Turkey will not respond soon for several reasons: first, because it won't want to seem weak; second, there are general elections in Turkey next year and this will bind them to some extent; third, the very reason why the border was closed is still there – if they open the border with Armenia, Azerbaijan will consider them deserters. It is not so easy to get out this situation and I doubt that Turkey will take steps toward opening the border soon. Real pressure should be exerted upon Azerbaijan for the border opening, though the West is trying to make it understood that the day after the Karabakh conflict is settled the Turkish-Armenian border will be opened. In my opinion the truth is the opposite – if the border is opened the Karabakh conflict will be settled,” Manoyan said.

The Reaction of Istanbul Armenians

The Armenian patriarch of Istanbul, Archbishop Mesrop Mutafyan, expressed his concerns about the approval of the bill on the Genocide denial by the French Parliament saying that the French “have sabotaged the Armenian-Turkish dialogue”. The patriarch said that Turkish-Armenians are following the developments with “attention and concern” and are expecting “a more delicate public attitude” toward them since they are neither Diaspora-Armenians nor citizens of France. “The Armenians of Turkey are feeling serious pressure upon them in relation to the French bill. For this reason we have asked the Istanbul Municipality to provide for the security of the Church and the national schools,” the patriarch said.

As for the editor-in-chief of the Istanbul Akos newspaper, Hrant Dink, who is currently being persecuted for freely expressing himself, he stated that Turkey should accept the approval of the bill coolly. Dink said that Turkey should not get agitated and put the necessary democratic reforms aside. “On the contrary, Turkey should show composure and move forward. In my opinion more efforts are to be exerted for the development of dialogue and relations between Turkey and Armenia. The Turkish and the Armenian peoples should look for grounds for talking to each other,” he said.

The attitude of our compatriots residing in Turkey and, first of all that of the Istanbul patriarch should be understood. It is they who become the “mote in the eye” of Turks when in the parliament of any country the issue of the Armenian Genocide is discussed. In general, our compatriots from the Diaspora are, first of all, citizens of the country in question. And, from this standpoint, Turkey is not an exception. For example, in July of 1993, when in the course of the Karabakh war the Armenian forces captured Aghdam, not only did the religious leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, condemn the “Armenian aggression” but also under his personal pressure the leaders of three dioceses of the Armenian Church in the Islamic Republic were forced to condemn the actions by the Armenian forces.