In 2012 we can expect progress in the recognition of the Armenian genocide and criminalization of its denial in Europe, Ruben Safrastian, director of Institute of Oriental Studies, an affiliation of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, said at a news conference today.
YEREVAN, December 26. /ARKA/. In 2012 we can expect progress in the recognition of the Armenian genocide and criminalization of its denial in Europe, Ruben Safrastian, director of Institute of Oriental Studies, an affiliation of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, said at a news conference today.
On December 22 the National Assembly of France passed a bill that makes it illegal to deny the 1915 Armenian genocide. The bill will see anyone in France who publicly denies the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman Empire facing a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros.
Mr. Safrastian said Turkey can not prove its commitment to European values and the French parliament’s bill was meant for Ankara "to show how it must treat the crimes of the past."
"French parliamentarians have decided to prove once again that France is one of the centers of the European civilization and that the values upheld by Europe also apply to the denial of genocide," he said.
However, Safrastian admitted that the passage of the bill to some extent was prompted by internal and external political factors, in particular, by approaching presidential elections in France and the ruling party’s plan to win votes of France's Armenian minority, estimated to number between 300,000 and 500,000 people.
The Armenian genocide was recognized by many states. The first was Uruguay that did so in 1965. Other countries are Russia France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, 42 states in the United States, also the Vatican, European Parliament and the World Council of Churches. -0-
