Act to Combat Denial of the Existence of Legally Recognized Genocides

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The law to combat the denial of the existence of legally recognized genocides ( Loi visant à réprimer la contestation de l'existence des génocides reconnus par la loi ) was a French bill to combat negationism .

The draft passed by Parliament in December 2011 was confirmed by the French Senate in January 2012 . It should criminalize “publicly praising, denying or grossly trivializing genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes” of recognized genocides . The draft provided for a prison sentence of one year and fines of up to 45,000 euros for denying or playing down genocide recognized in France. This also included the genocide of the Armenians during the First World War in the Ottoman Empire.

At the end of January 2012, over 140 MPs called the French Constitutional Council to check whether the law was in conformity with the Constitution. The initiative was joined by 77 senators and 65 members of the National Assembly, 60 members more than is necessary for an appeal. The Turkish government welcomed the move.

At the end of February 2012, the Constitutional Council decided that the law violated freedom of expression .

Historical background

The genocide of the Armenians occurred in the years from 1915 to 1917 when, in connection with the efforts to create a homogeneous Turkish nation state, a large number of Armenians in the territory of today's Turkey by the Ottoman Empire , the predecessor state of Turkey , were systematically murdered.

In Turkey, unlike the Armenians, these homicides are not seen as genocide but as events related to the war. Since 2005 there has been political pressure from some states on Turkey to recognize the massacres and death marches as genocide of the Armenian people. Various governments or public institutions made public statements on this issue. Over 20 countries, including France, Sweden, Belgium and Switzerland, officially speak of genocide. The German Bundestag discussed in mid-June 2005 how to deal with the events of the First World War, but in Germany there was no mention of genocide in the text of the resolution, but only in the grounds. During the World War , the Ottoman Empire was an ally of the German Empire , which for its part did nothing against the murder and expulsion of the Armenians.

The Armenian law in France

Information about the law

In France, on October 12, 2006, the National Assembly adopted a bill. Accordingly, the denial of the genocide against the Armenians should be punished with one year imprisonment or a fine of 45,000 euros . In the parliament (National Assembly) 106 MPs voted for the law and 19 against. Many MPs who are critical of the draft did not take part in the vote or abstained. In particular, members of the conservative UMP party , of which Jacques Chirac is a member, refused to vote. The vote was official and was watched by spectators. Representatives from both the Armenians living in France and the Turkish government were present. The meeting was also televised live in Turkey.

The vote took place about half a year before the 2007 presidential election in France . In this was Nicolas Sarkozy - to succeed Chirac - President.

Reactions and their effects after the adoption of the draft

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The Turkish government refuses to recognize the expulsion and murder of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. Instead, for example, the Turkish community in Germany spoke of "highly tragic events [...] to which hundreds of thousands of Armenians, as well as Turks and Kurds, fell victim". The officially influenced majority of the Turkish population sees the Armenian law as a “renewed humiliation and rejection of future Turkish EU membership”. The President of the Turkish Parliament, Bülent Arinc , spoke of a “'shameful' decision and 'hostile attitude' towards the Turkish people. The law is a 'severe blow to freedom of expression and thought' and 'unacceptable' to Turkey ”.

The government of Turkey had then announced that it would cancel a planned arms deal and exclude French companies from building a new nuclear power plant. Diplomatic cooperation within the framework of NATO was interrupted by Turkey. Officially, Turkey did not want to call for a boycott of French goods.

Bill in December 2011

In December 2011, the French National Assembly again passed a law stating that “the public praise, denial or gross trivialization of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes” can be punished with imprisonment or fines. This also includes the genocide of the Armenians. The French MPs criticized the "intolerable attempts" by the Republic of Turkey to put pressure on the French parliament. In response, the Turkish government withdrew its ambassador from France. The law was ratified by the French Senate in January 2012, despite protests by the incumbent government of the Republic of Turkey , but was declared unconstitutional by the French Constitutional Council in February 2012 as it violated freedom of expression . French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced an amended version of the law. The 'AGA, Working Group Recognition eV - against genocide, for international understanding' published in a statement:

“On April 20, 2007, the Council of EU Justice Ministers reached political agreement on a framework decision to combat racism and xenophobia. This framework decision provided for a minimum harmonization of criminal provisions to combat racism and xenophobia. These penal provisions included, among other things, racist or xenophobic agitation, public approval, denial or gross trivialization of genocide and crimes against humanity and war crimes. The decision of the Constitutional Council is in direct contradiction to this. "

- Working Group Recognition eV

Regarding the Loi Gayssot, which criminalizes Holocaust denial, the AGA criticized that the punishment for denying genocide is either unconstitutional or it is not; a distinction based on the genocide denied in each case would violate the principle of equality.

Comparable and contrary laws

Germany
There is a law in Germany that makes the denial of genocide against the Jews a punishable offense. According to this, the person who denies this can be charged with "sedition (Section 130 StGB), denigration of the memory of the deceased (Section 189 StGB) [and] insult (Section 185 in conjunction with Section 194 (1) sentence 2 StGB)".
Switzerland
In Switzerland, denying the genocide of the Armenians is prohibited. The denial is only prosecuted within the framework of the anti-racism legislation - if the denial is made out of ignorance of the historical facts, it is exempt from punishment.
Slovakia
In Slovakia, the existing criminal law article on denial of the Holocaust was expanded. Denial of the Armenian genocide has also been a criminal offense since November 2011. A maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment applies, whereby denial offenses committed abroad are also punishable.
Turkey
In Turkey, Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code applies , which is still used today to prosecute the public recognition of the genocide of the Armenians. According to Article 301, if the Armenian genocide is recognized, there is a risk of imprisonment or a fine. The Turkish Nobel Prize laureate Orhan Pamuk was sentenced in March 2011 to pay 6,000 Turkish lira in damages to six plaintiffs who were indicted by his remarks on the genocide of the Armenians (Pamuk's accusation was: “The Turks have 30,000 Kurds on this soil and 1 million Armenians killed. ”) Felt offended. Turkish MPs made proposals to draw up a law similar to the French proposed law in return for France. According to this, France is said to have committed genocide in its former colony, Algeria , and denial of this genocide is also to be punished.

Discussions about the law

There are various discussions about the meaning of the proposed law.

Effects of the law on the Armenians

Opponents of the law argue that the French law harms the Armenians themselves rather than benefits them. A simple law would in no way solve the problem of understanding or even agreement between Turks and Armenians. This would make mutual understanding almost impossible. The Armenian Patriarch Mesrop Mutafyan made a similar statement. In Istanbul in particular , Armenians and other minorities have recently been re-accepted into society and there have been talks between Turkey and the Republic of Armenia about an agreement or at least about a reasonable coexistence. Now it is to be feared that these talks would be broken off.

About 100,000 Armenians work illegally in Turkey. The Turkish government has not done anything about it so far. Some nationalists in Turkey want to expel the illegal workers.

“There are 170,000 Armenians in my country, 70,000 of whom are Turkish citizens. In an emergency, tomorrow I would tell the remaining 100,000 that they are leaving our country. I do this because they are not my citizens and I am not obliged to maintain them in my country. "

- Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish Prime Minister

Opinions on the law

Sections of the Turkish population are of the opinion that the law should expose Turkey to the world. The historical facts are not taught in schools in Turkey, so many residents of Turkey do not know the background. Turkish politicians demand that the countries of the EU should critically come to terms with their own crimes of the past. So Norway is held against the Sami and France the colonial war in Algeria.

French historians were outraged at the passing of the law in parliament for other reasons. It is the task of historians to provide clarity on this issue and not that of Parliament. The French Minister for European Affairs Catherine Colonna shared this view . The question of guilt can only be clarified through historical processing. This is the only way to achieve reconciliation with the Armenians. The genocide itself and the historical facts are not denied by the overwhelming majority of historians. A reconciliation between Turkey and the Armenians will be difficult without a historical examination. According to the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn , this law could stand in the way of processing.

Bernard-Henri Lévy, on the other hand, advocated the law, calling it “a law that protects and preserves history by making things a little more difficult for deniers. [...] A law that punishes those who repeat and double the genocidal gesture by denying the genocide. "

The new law, approved by the French Senate in January 2012, sparked severe criticism and threats from Turkey. Even before the law was passed, the Turkish ambassador in Paris had sent a letter to the chairman of the UMP parliamentary group in the National Assembly, Christian Jacob , on December 8, 2011 . In this unanswered letter, pressure is exerted by demanding Christian Jacob "take all precautions to prevent the passage of this bill."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dispute with Turkey. France forbids denial of the Armenian genocide. Spiegel online, December 22, 2011. Retrieved December 22, 2011
  2. ^ Senate approves controversial genocide law Süddeutsche Zeitung.de, January 23, 2012. Accessed January 24, 2012
  3. ↑ zeit.de January 31, 2012: MPs stop the genocide law. - The French Constitutional Council has to decide on the law that criminalizes the denial of genocide. The Turkish government welcomes the move.
  4. ^ Judgment of the Constitutional Council
  5. ↑ Response to Armenian law: Turkey suspends military contacts with France from Spiegel Online from November 16, 2006
  6. ^ Frankfurter Rundschau: Controversy over the Genocide Act ( Memento from January 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved on January 2, 2012
  7. ↑ spiegel.de February 28, 2012: France: Supreme Court overturns controversial genocide law
  8. ↑ A BLACK DAY FOR GENOCIDE PREVENTION: Opinion of the Recognition Working Group: French Constitutional Council overturns the law to punish genocide denial on the grounds of unconstitutionality , accessed on March 2, 2012
  9. ↑ cf. Oliver Zwahlen: The recognition of the genocide against the Armenians in Switzerland; Historikerstreit ( Memento from March 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Bratislava, November 21, 2011: Deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia confirms the adoption of an extended anti-denial law , accessed on March 2, 2012
  11. ↑ Freedom of expression is a long time coming Neue Zürcher Zeitung, accessed on December 28, 2011
  12. ^ Doğan Haber Ajansı March 28, 2011, accessed December 28, 2011
  13. ↑ new-armenian-persecution-in-turkey
  14. ↑ Sueddeutsche.de of October 12, 2006 ( Memento of March 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ diepresse.com of October 10, 2006
  16. ^ A law against Turkish blackmail diplomacy Welt Online, January 4, 2012. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
  17. ↑ Mass killing of Armenians: Erdogan rages against France's genocide law Spiegel Online, January 24, 2012. Accessed January 24, 2012
  18. ↑ ( French prendre toutes les précautions pour empêcher l'adoption de cette proposition de loi ) Génocide arménien: la lettre de pression d'Ankara ( Memento of July 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Genocide of the Armenians: the letter from Ankara, in which pressure is applied, L'Express