Armenian bill in France manipulation of French president, Turkish deputy premier says

BURSA (A.A) - January 22, 2012 - Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said Sunday French President Nicolas Sarkozy manipulated a bill that penalizes denial of Armenian allegations to win political support ahead of the French presidential elections scheduled for April. "France in trying to pass such a law just for on certain political calculations and on Sarkozy's manipulation. They attempt to force a person into believing in something," Arinc told reporters in the western province of Bursa. The bill penalizes denial of the Armenian allegations on the Ottoman era incidents of 1915 with a prison term of one year and a fine of 45 thousand euros. And it is set to come to the Senate floor on Monday but French senate members could vote to uphold an earlier parliamentary committee decision and drop the bill off the agenda without even debating it. A similar bill -- proposed by the Socialist Party -- was approved in 2006 by the lower house but the senate rejected to debate the bill last May when it upheld the committee decision back then.  Arinc said the bill was an open breach of the freedom of expression and human rights, an opinion which he said was also shared by many French intellectuals and politicians.   "Let me reiterate a question posed earlier by French dailies: Suppose that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to France and said 'there was no genocide.' What will happen then? And I am sure there are thousands of Turks who would dare to say that openly and similarly there are thousand of French intellectuals who would defy the bill," Arinc said.   Nearly 40 thousand Turks living in France and other countries in Europe gathered in the French capital to shun the bill despite rain and cold weather on Saturday.  Arinc described Saturday's protest as "a success story," adding that Turks in Europe showed their rightful reactions to the bill.   "We believe that this bill which merely aims to win votes of the Armenian diaspora in the French presidential elections will not be approved by the French senate," Arinc said.