French historian group protests Armenian genocide bill
Güncelleme Tarihi:
A group of French historians, who last month put together a letter of protest against a proposed "Armenian genocide law," have now come together again to publish a declaration against the draft of the new law, which mandates prison sentences for those who deny the genocide.
The bill, which was put together by the opposition Socialist Party in France, and which will come before the French Parliament on May 18 for debate, has elicited protest from French historians on the grounds that it carries stiff penalities for those denying the Armenian claims, and in this sense infringes on freedom of expression in France. The declaration from the group of historians against the bill, who have expressed that they are "in a state of deep shock" about it, notes, among other things, that "history teachers in French schools will be taken hostage by this law."
Among the historians signing off on this new declaration of protest are well-known French academics such as Jean-Pierre Azema, Elisabeth Badinter, Marc Ferro, Jacques Julliard, Pierre Nora, Mona Ozouf, Jean-Pierre Vernant, and Pierre Vidal-Naquet.