As expected, French senators approved the bill to make it illegal to deny the tragic events of 1915 was "genocide". If President Nicolas Sarkozy confirms (it is almost certain as it was a bill sponsored by Sarkozy himself to get the Armenian votes in the upcoming elections), those found guilty of denying the "Armenian genocide" would be sentenced to one year in jail and fined 45,000 euros.
Followers of this blog know very well that I am not a fan of Sarkozy, but my dislike doesn't shadow my judgment about him: He is a scapegoat now. When I saw that a populist newspaper in Turkey has called him "Satan Sarkozy" in its headline today, I was more than convinced that he didn't deserve to be turned into such a bogeyman.
After all, the French Senate is controlled by Socialists and their leader François Hollande also supported the bill. Although I'm closer to Hollande's discourse and practice, the fact that he is giving an example of Sarkozien hypocrisy now may fatally damage the bilateral relations between Turkey and France during his upcoming presidency, especially if this bill is not abolished by the Constitutional Court.
The saddest part of what happens in France now is that such policies of anti-Turkism is not exclusive to the Sarkozy administration, as it has become a historical pattern long ago.
When France made a secret agreement with its allies to use Ottoman Armenians as a tool to dismember the Ottoman Empire, and supported one of its ally, Russia, to kill and expel 550,000 Muslims from the modern day Armenia in 1910s, these policies were in action.
When France invaded southeastern Turkey and used legionnaire divisions consisted of Ottoman Armenians to realize the plan in 1920s, these policies were in action.
When France unsuccessfully tried to snatch the Turkish province of Alexandretta in 1930s, these policies were in action.
When France, allied with the Nazis, tried to kill 15,000 Turkish Jews, which were eventually rescued by Turkey in 1940s, these policies were in action.
When the French socialist government made a secret agreement with Armenian terrorists, in which the government would allow ASALA to use France as a base of operations in exchange for refraining from launching attacks on French soil in 1970s, these policies were in action.
When ASALA was dissolved and its infrastructure started to be used by the PKK militants, as France shifted its "humanitarian support" towards the Kurdish cause in 1980s and 1990s, these policies were in action.
Considering this historiography, I hope that when he will be elected, Hollande will change to break the vicious cycle. I wish that he stopped being a hostage of the rich Armenian nationalists in France, who are just hate-merchants. I expect him to read the hard evidence of history, instead of listening to the one-sided propaganda.
Here I suggest him a beginning... The National Archives of the United Kingdom released some files under the 30-year rule last week. Hürriyet's London correspondent went there to take a look at them. Some of the British Foreign Ministry cables, all from 1981, are about the "Armenian terrorism", which Hollande should take a lesson about. The cables show how the French-speaking Armenians in Switzerland started to assassinate Turkish diplomats. The Swiss government were initially quite tolerant to such crimes, although Britain was diplomatically criticizing them. The Swiss started to penalize the Armenian terrorism harshly, only after those terrorists started to attack Swiss interests, too!
Armenian Terrorism in Switzerland, According to Britain
