Those who deny the [Armenian] Genocide and the Holocaust, do not do credit to themselves, but I believe in the freedom of speech also in this issue which personally relates to me. MP Patrick Devedjian stated the aforementioned at the debate on the bill on criminalization of denial of crimes against humanity introduced by his colleague Valerie Boyer during the session of the French Parliament Committee on Constitutional Laws and Legislation. In his speech, Devedjian said:
“This is a delicate and complicated issue in terms of law. The main issue is the denial by the state. Is it possible to exercise tolerance if a foreign state is disseminating organized denial propaganda in France? As an MP, I have received lots of such documents from organizations of one foreign country, which provides substantive means to the organizations which earn through Genocide denial. This propaganda is evidently for the category of French citizens who have a foreign descent but are nevertheless French like all the others.
I must respond with regret to the historians, who are worried about the interpretation of one or another event, that they get interested in these events when the latter become rather cruel.
The constant statements on that the history cannot be regulated by law are also ungrounded: the historic date of 14 July is the basis of our national identity. The politics, in the noble sense of the word, is based on memory and history.”