Diplomat Ara Papian considers the bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide adopted by French Senate a success but advises not to overestimate it.
Note that the French Senate passed the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial. “Because the Turks still preserve the possibility to debate it at the Constitutional Council, on the other hand, the denial of the genocide exists also in Switzerland but if you remember, Perinçek vs. Switzerland lawsuit said that when you restrict the expression of the right to even denying, you also restrict the right to expression, so we do not know how all this will end. In addition, most importantly, repeating that the adoption of this bill is a success, at the same time, I think that the true success will begin when we start receiving the compensations,” – opines Ara Papian.
The delay of debating this bill had caused a reason for various speculations, there were opinions that the Senate is exposed to pressure by the Turkish side and would not dare to adopt it. The delay of the adoption of the bill, according to Mr. Papian, was conditioned by a suitable moment, “For passing such a bill, the right moment must be chosen, and the moment is now convenient both in an organizational and political sense. Now, there are more obvious anti-Western manifestations in the conduct of Turkey, and politically, a more favorable environment has been created than it was a few months ago.”
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Mr. Papian does not consider the adoption of the bill a result of the Armenian diplomacy, “This is an issue related to the domestic situation of France, this is not the ability of our diplomacy. This is the role of French citizens of Armenian origin. The Turks did not have much leverage to overthrow the bill. We can say that the adoption of the bill is a failure for them, but one way or another, the recognition existed in France, France is one of the countries that has traditionally expressed and reaffirmed, in various manifestations, its posture about the genocide, now, completely different tasks should be placed.”
Arpine SIMONYAN
