A French proposal to outlaw genocide-denial infuriates Turkey
Dec 31st 2011 | ISTANBUL | from the print edition
No closer to resting in peace
FEW Turks had heard of Valérie Boyer, a deputy for Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party in France. That was until she sponsored a bill that would make it a crime in France to deny that the mass killings of Ottoman Armenians in 1915 constituted genocide. On December 21st France’s lower chamber approved the bill, which would make denying any officially recognised genocide punishable by a one-year prison sentence and a fine of €45,000 ($59,000). Within hours Turkish hackers had defaced Ms Boyer’s website. The deputy says she has been inundated with death and rape threats. (Separately, the Israeli Knesset has begun discussing whether to recognise the 1915 killings as genocide.)
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