Responding to the bill banning the denial of the Armenian Genocide by the French National Assembly, Rober Koptaş, the editor-in-chief of the Istanbul-based “Agos” newspaper, gave a negative assessment to the bill during an interview given to Euronews and said that the bill could have a reverse impact. Koptaş mentioned that after passing the bill another anti-Armenian and anti-Turkish hysteria had started in Turkey. Koptaş informed that passing the bill would make the social dialogue harder. “It will give a new advantage to the nationalists and those who deny the past. If France restrains the right to freedom of speech, then in Turkey they will surely find a justification for such a step”, said the editor of “Agos”.
Today we asked Ruben Safrastyan, the Director of the Department of Turkish Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies, the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, at the “Novosti Armenia” press center to make a comment on this statement of the editor of “Agos” and asked what consequences the passing of the bill might have on the Armenians in Turkey.
“Really a new anti-Armenian tide may rise inTurkeyand it is very probable, but on the other hand, describing the bill passed by the French National Assembly as a restraint of the right to freedom of speech, in my opinion, is a serious mistake. There are some phenomena in the history of mankind, the denial of which is a crime. The Jewish Genocide, Holocaust, is criminalized in many countries. InFranceitself, a bill was passed as early as 20 years ago, in 1990, that banned the denial of the Jewish Genocide, Holocaust. Therefore, confusing two different phenomena, i.e. restraining falsification, denial of the most serious crime with restraining the right to freedom of speech, is wrong”, answered R. Safrastyan and made his own example, “In 2000-2001, when the French parliament passed the bill recognizing the Armenian Genocide, I was in Istanbul and Armenians there were in a great fear, because the pressure on them had risen rapidly. And they feared that the events of 1955 inIstanbul, when ethnic cleanses of mainly Greeks and Armenians were organized by the authorities for political reasons, might repeat.”
Commenting on the possible deterioration of the Turkish-French relations, Ruben Safrastyan said that Turkey was the first to suffer from that deterioration of relations, as she was economically dependent on France, “It is obvious that Turkey has been caught in a trap laid by herself, because whatever she does, whatever sanctions she imposes against France, they may cause laughter on one hand and you see an example of it – the leader of the Democratic Party of Turkey perceived the sanctions Turkey was going to impose funny. On the other hand,Turkeyis the one that will really suffer losses, because we know that the French capital has strong positions in the Turkish domestic market with her investments. And 20% of the Turkish automotive market is under the control of French companies.”
Read also
Lusine KHACHATRYAN
