Turkey condemns French bill on denial of Ottoman era incidents of 1915

ANKARA (A.A) - Turkey strongly condemns the law proposal adopted by the French National Assembly, which "deeply offends the Turkish people," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a press statement on Thursday.  French parliament earlier today approved a bill that makes it a crime to deny Ottoman era incidents of 1915 with a prison term of one year and a fine of 45 thousand euros.   "The initiative defames Turkish history on the basis of one-sided interpretations and aims to deprive us from our right to defend ourselves against this injustice. It is also unjust, inappropriate and contradicts relevant rules of international law. It is extremely unfortunate that such a serious issue is abused for electoral purposes in spite of all the demarches, friendly and constructive warnings conveyed to the Government of France, as well as promises previously received," the statement said. In 2001, the French parliament adopted a law recognizing the incidents of 1915 as "genocide." The statement said the introduction of criminal sanctions to the 2001 law paved the way for even more negative consequences, adding that such parliamentary acts were problematic not only politically but also legally and morally. "This law proposal constitutes a grave example of politicization of history on account of narrow political calculations and stifling of freedom of expression by a democratic institution. France has thus preferred to ignore the universal values which it had a share in developing," the statement said. The statement said the bill restricted freedom of expression of all scholars and researchers looking at historical events from different perspectives, adding that it contradicted the international law, European norms, the reports of the French Parliament itself and the earlier official declarations of the French government on the issue. "It is a historical mistake to deal a blow with a prejudiced approach and careless moves, to the Turkish French relations that have been developing for centuries on the basis of friendship," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.