French President Hollande vows new Armenia 'genocide law'
Source: BBC
French President Francois Hollande has said he plans a new law to punish denial that the 1915-16 killing of Armenians was genocide.
A previous law approved by the French parliament was struck down in February by the Constitutional Council, which said it infringed freedom of speech.
Turkey rejects the term "genocide" for the deaths of Armenians during their deportation by the Ottoman Empire.
The issue has strained Franco-Turkish relations in recent years.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18758078
Bravo to President Hollande for his determination to punish those reich-wing blowhards who think that they're entitled to spread whatever hatred and denial in order to offend and anger anyone they can.
I hope that a similar law will be passed in Congress when the Democrats seize control of the House.
David__77
(23,421 posts)To pass a law like that would require repealing that amendment.
We also have a thing in the US called the Supreme Court, a court which has the ability to make any of the amendments disappear in a puff of smoke - and which has done so repeatedly (usually by a 5-4 vote).
stockholmer
(3,751 posts)On the fourth Armenian Remembrance Day of his presidency, President Obama has for the fourth time in a row broken his promise to the Armenian community to use the word genocide in describing what happened at the hands of the Turks roughly a century ago. As a senator, and then as a presidential candidate, Barack Obama often talked about how bold he was to call the slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire just what it was: a genocide.
America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides, he said. I intend to be that president. In a January 2008 letter to the Armenian Reporter, Mr. Obama said he shared with Armenian Americans so many of whom are descended from genocide survivors a principled commitment to commemorating and ending genocide. That starts with acknowledging the tragic instances of genocide in world history.
In a statement, Ken Hachikian, the chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America said, President Obama today completed his surrender to Turkey, shamefully outsourcing U.S. human rights policy to a foreign state, and tightening Ankaras gag on American recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The Presidents capitulation to Turkey on this, the last April 24th of his term represents the very opposite of the principled and honest change he promised to Armenian Americans and to all the citizens of our nation. President Obamas pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide stands today as a stark lie, a painful promise etched on the hearts of all who had hoped and worked for change, but who, today, have been betrayed by a politician who failed to live up to his own words.
In 2006, Mr. Obama noted, I criticized the secretary of state [Condoleezza Rice] for the firing of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans, after he properly used the term genocide to describe Turkeys slaughter of thousands of Armenians starting in 1915. I shared with Secretary Rice my firmly held conviction that the Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence.
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my thoughts:
Turkey is being used as a continental dagger (aka cats-paw) by the NATO/US/UK war machine. It is being used to as a staging area to run multiple covert destabilisation operations, the most recent of course being Syria. This is one of the principal reasons for the change in POTUS Obama's words vis-a-vis Senator and candidate Obama's words.
Iskenderun Turkey is one of the principal bases that NATO is using to shuttle it's sheep-dipped so-called 'al-Qa-eda' (and other groups) thugs out of in an attempt to topple Assad in Syria. The same methodology was used in Libya, albeit with much less importance being placed on Turkey.
The Turkish Prime Minister, Erdogan, is slowly slipping down a path fueled by delusional thoughts of a new Ottoman Caliphate arising for the mists of history, thus opening up his nation to tremendous risk as the bullet-catcher for NATO ops.
It is very interesting that Hollande is now throwing a rhetorical flash-bang into this already unstable tinderbox.
JustAnotherGen
(31,828 posts)Hollande's leadership the more I like him.
I don't know that the US would ever pass such a law - but I DO have freedom of speech and I WILL call it a genocide. If someone in Turkey doesn't like it - oh well.
Faygo Kid
(21,478 posts)It was clearly genocide, and it's past time for Turkey to admit it. But I don't support criminalizing denial.
But I don't live in France.
may3rd
(593 posts)It makes sense in an odd way but what group of French is this genocide talk appeasing ?
may3rd
(593 posts)Next foul dish dejour ;
chicken hawk
oui ?
Freddie Stubbs
(29,853 posts)Perhaps he is right, as they elected him.