Thursday, December 22, 2011

France enacts law against denying the holocaust - not the one you think - and Turkey is unhappy

Today the French Assemblée Nationale is expected to pass a bill prohibiting the denial of the genocide that occurred in Turkey over 1915-1916 when Turkey decided to dispose of about 1.5 million Armenians in a manner that provided the Nazis a textbook example to copy when they decided to do the same to the Jews. "Who remembers the Armenians?" Hitler is reported to have said to his cohorts.
 

This proposed law provides for one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros for denying what has been recognized by France as the Armenian genocide since 2001.  

The head of the Turkish state, Abdullah Gül, on Tuesday urged France to abandon a law which is "unacceptable" and plans to impose a range of diplomatic and trade sanctions against France if it is passed.  

Tensions have been elevated anyway since President Sarkozy made clear in 2007 he doesn't want Turkey in the EU, not that anyone else does either.

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