French pot calls Turkish kettle black
This post should have gone up yesterday, so apologies in advance if events have rendered it obsolete.
The French parliament is to vote on Thursday on a law proposed by the country’s socialists which would penalise the denial of the Armenian genocide. Unsurprisingly, this has caused a fair bit of annoyance in Turkey where it is a crime to assert that the 1915 massacre of Armenians was a genocide.
The European Parliament has expressed concern at the French decision to set themselves up as the final authority on the issue, with Dutch Green MEP and chair of the parliament’s delegation to the joint EU-Turkey parliamentary committee, pointing out that legislation such as this harms the credibility of EU attempts to promote free speech in Turkey.
“The EU is rapidly developing a perception problem in Turkey,” Mr Lagendijk said.
“If we ask Turkey to ensure the freedom of expression we cannot have a situation where at the same time, people could end up jailed for their views in Europe. Freedom of speech is at stake here.”
Even the EU enlargement commisioner, Olli Rehn, has stepped in to point out that the proposed law may have very serious consequences for EU-Turkey relations.
“Such a law would have counter-productive consequences because it would say to the Turks that there is nothing to discuss. Here you have the final truth and if you happen to deny it you end up in prison in an EU member state,” he added.
“This would put in danger the efforts of all those in Turkey – intellectuals, historians, academics, authors – who truly want to develop an open and serious debate without taboos and for the sake of freedom of expression.”
The commissioner’s criticism of legislation in an EU member state - instead of in candidate states - follows strong remarks by Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan who recently asked if he would be “put in prison” if he were to visit France and said there was no genocide.
Update
The French parliament has adopted the bill, which was sponsored by the opposition Socialist party, by 106 votes to 19.
The BBC’s Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul says many Turks are angry at what they see as double standards in the EU, where opinions are sharply divided about whether Turkey should be allowed to join.
Thursday 12 Oct 2006 | Paul | France
