France's Armenia Genocide Bill Stumbles ahead of Vote
A French Senate committee on Wednesday rejected a bill to outlaw denial of the Armenian genocide, but the move was unlikely to stop the diplomatically fraught bill passing at a final vote on Monday.
The French lower house approved the law last month, threatening anyone who denies that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide with jail, drawing a threat of sanctions from Turkey.
Ankara froze political and military ties with France when the bill was passed by the National Assembly, and has threatened further measures if it continues through the Senate or is approved by President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The Senate's Laws Commission approved a motion on Wednesday rejecting the bill as inadmissible by 23 votes for, nine against and eight abstentions.
A plenary Senate session on Monday will now vote on the committee's motion, but most senators opposed to the bill are expected to abstain, allowing the Senate to take a final vote on the bill itself.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed in 1915 and 1916 by the forces of Turkey's former Ottoman Empire.
Turkey disputes the figure, arguing that only 500,000 died, and denies this was genocide, ascribing the toll to fighting and starvation during World War I and accusing the Armenians of siding with Russian invaders.
France recognized the killings as a genocide in 2001, but the new bill would go further, by punishing anyone who denies this with a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros ($57,000).
Modern Turkey is still very sensitive about the issue, and has accused France of attacking freedom of expression and free historical inquiry.
France is home to an estimated 500,000 citizens of Armenian descent, and Sarkozy's UMP party has been accused of backing the law in order to pander to a key electoral demographic ahead of presidential and legislative elections.
It is backed by a cross-party majority of lawmakers but has not won universal support in the government, where some ministers fear it will hurt diplomatic and trade ties with a NATO ally and major economic partner.
Source: Agence France Presse
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