The concept of “genocide” has its origin from the killings of 6 million Jews by the German Nazi Government during late 1930s and early 1940s, labeled as the “Holocaust”. The Armenian diaspora in several countries took advantage of this true event of genocide and managed to have it extended to include the World War I-related events involving the Armenian population in Eastern Ottoman Empire (1915-1916).
The current uproar involves the Republic of France recognizing the denial of genocide as a “crime” punishable by imprisonment and/or monetary fines. In 2001, France has formally recognized the massacres of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. In 2006, the French National Assembly (the lower house) adopted a bill making it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered genocide in 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks; however, the bill did not move forward to become law. In December 2011, the National Assembly passed a draft law to penalize those who deny genocide. The draft law does not specifically refer to the alleged Armenian genocide; however, since the event was recognized by France as genocide in 2001, the law includes it. The French Senate approved the law in January 2012; it will become final upon approval by the President (pending).
As reviewed extensively in the following Wikipedia report (click here for link), the concept that genocide of the Armenian population has occurred in the Ottoman Empire has been approved by a large number of international organizations, autonomous nations and semi-autonomous ethnic groups. Further, several nations that have declared the Armenian massacre to be genocide have already laws in place recognizing denial of genocide a violation of the law. Indeed in 2007, in the truly impartial and neutral country Switzerland, a court found Dogu Perincek guilty for denying the alleged Armenian genocide, and the decision was upheld by the Swiss Supreme Court.
It makes sense to approach President of France Sarkozy to convince him not to approve the parliament’s decision, as the Government of Turkey and Turkish PAC are trying to do. However, at this stage, the effort is not to convince foreign countries and international organizations to reverse their decisions that the Ottoman Empire committed genocide of a specific ethnic group of its citizens. Rather, the issue is whether or not denying the occurrence of genocide should be considered a crime in the Republic of France (obviously applicable only to people in France). Thus, the main argument will have to be that such a law is in violation of human rights in freedom of speech. The legal issue is discussed from an academic perspective in the attached document (Holocaust Denial). In the United States, the First Amendment of the Constitution addresses the freedom of speech issue, and the US Supreme Court would declare such a denial law as unconstitutional (indeed, groups in the French Senate have declared that the passed law would also be unconstitutional in France). In my view, the Turkish Americans in the United States (and obviously TACAM) should inform the American public that, not only a genocide has not occurred, but the current decision of France is a violation of human rights and the freedom of speech, and is inconsistent with the libertarian/democratic principles of the American people, as defined by their Constitution. Unfortunately, the limitations in human rights, freedom of speech and integrity of the legal system in the Republic of Turkey will in a way weaken our arguments in this regard.
Additional reference from Peter R. Teachout: Click here for link
Author: Prof. Dr. Sumer Pek (TACAM Grassroots Advisor)