by Ramazan Gözen*
The French National Assembly approved a bill to punish those who deny Armenian allegations about the 1915 incidents with a prison term of one year and a fine of 45,000 euros.
Although not as yet signed into law, this initiative as such is against the objective norms of law, logic and reason. It is known that the bill was passed not with the purpose of protecting rights or the law but out of concerns for French domestic politics.
It is nothing other than a distressful period in history being exploited for political ploys. That the bill was passed by only 10 percent of the members who make up the French parliament was in itself odd. That may be in line with French law, but it is openly in contravention of the understanding of universal law. This bill, which is likely to deeply impact France’s domestic and foreign policy, having been accepted by such a small group, is a strange development even for French democracy. Why this maneuver, employed by vote-hungry President Nicolas Sarkozy, who aspires to entice more people to his side and his party, is going to be binding on the French people is also difficult to comprehend. Whether or not it is going to be a law aside, even the making of such a decision has already inflicted damage on relations.
The second dimension of the damage concerns Turkish-French relations. Turkey, which has strongly reacted to the bill, has taken an anti-France stance. The government has decided to take measures against France, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has unveiled an eight-measure package to this end. These measures, unless developments in the opposite direction take place on the French side, are bound to damage the interests of the two countries. We believe that the bigger of the damages will be to the centuries old system of Western institutions and values of which Turkey also wants to be a part.
The most damaging of all is the violation of freedom of thought and expression, which is the most vital dimension of the human rights and freedoms the Western system is built on. While there is permission for coming up with the allegations of a so-called genocide, denying those the freedom to say just the opposite of that is clearly a legal inequality. Everyone should be expected to have the right to think and express even the most radical and misbegotten idea. Even the person who rejects a universally acknowledged piece of information, such as the world is round, should have the freedom to express it no matter what his justification may be. Having freedom of expression does not mean that he is to be taken into consideration.
Bulding a wall before the freedom of thought
No thought or view should be limited, inhibited and sealed within barriers unless it is a slur against the personality and identity of others or usurps their rights. Building a wall before the freedom of thought and expression is simply undemocratic and a violation of law. The decision made by the French National Assembly flatly conflicts with fundamental laws and ethical norms. Everyone should have the right to express whatever they think of the 1915 incidents. The bill is also against the policies and values championed by the EU, which is pungently critical of the democracy and human rights issues in non-EU countries. That the EU has always criticized Turkey on the grounds of freedom of thought and expression violations and that the European Court of Human Rights has fined Turkey millions of euros using the same arguments is very well known. The decision made by France in just the opposite direction, when there are many decisions against Turkey and a lot of other countries, is simply an affront to the EU. France has cornered not only itself but also the EU by behaving the way it has. If the EU cannot stop that, its status, already tarnished economically and financially, will also be called into question in terms of law and politics.
Erosion of the legal and freedom values of the EU besides its economic and financial malaise will have an unfavorable impact on the peripheral regions of Europe in political, social, cultural and even security affairs. More importantly, the whole of Turkey, including its citizens and administrators, will get more anti-France and anti-EU, the signs of which can already be discerned. The reactions by Turkey to France have increased considerably in the past week. Not only will these reactions deal a blow to Turkish-French relations, they will also have an undesirable reflection on France in Turkey and Turkey in France. It is obvious this deterioration in bilateral ties is in the interests of neither Turkey nor France.
The so-called Armenian genocide problems cannot be resolved in this way but activate the potential to worsen them to the extent they can become insoluble. It may mutually spawn ultranationalist and radical tendencies and movements. If the aim of the French National Assembly is to politically isolate Turkey, tear it away from the EU and put pressure on its foreign policy -- if there is such a deep scheme behind all that maneuvering -- the country to be harmed the most is firstly France. The signals of that have already been seen in the international media. The world media have come up with views that France’s move will draw reactions from almost all countries, Turkey in particular. Finally, the French National Assembly’s decision may have pleased the Armenian diaspora, but it has certainly made for unease among Turkish citizens of Armenian origin.
*Dr. Ramazan Gözen is an instructor at Abant İzzet Baysal University.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
