France sparks uproar with genocide bill

by Actual News Geezer | October 12, 2006 at 06:17 am

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The French truly have a penchant for dealing with difficult issues through legislation. Remember when it outlawed the wearing of religious symbols in public schools? Now it has taken on the Armenian Holocaust, denied by Turkey which wishes to join the European Union. Read on:

The draft law, to be debated by the National Assembly today, was submitted by the opposition Socialist Party and has strong support among those on the political right who hope to derail Turkey's candidacy for European Union membership.

Members of France's 400,000-strong Armenian diaspora, whose votes are important to all sides in next spring's presidential election, have lobbied for years to criminalize negating their genocide, just as it is a crime in France to deny the Holocaust.

But the proposed law, which would also require the French Senate's approval, has caused an uproar outside France and discomfort in some unexpected quarters.