criminalization-holocaust The CFC welcomes the adoption by Parliament of a text penalizing the denial of genocides that have not only been convicted by an international court, but also, earlier, as the Armenians.

Genocide is the ultimate form of racism, hatred and violence. And Holocaust denial is, in the words of Bernard-Henri Lévy, the highest stage of genocide, therefore a particular expression of this hatred, this racism and violence that led notably to the annihilation of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire first genocide of the twentieth century.

By adopting the second time in less than five years a provision against Holocaust denial, the French Parliament as a whole implicitly denounce the behavior of accomplices Turkish authorities until today, through denial and concealment, extermination Armenians.

It is also launching a strong message to national and international scopes, on the incompatibility of attacks on the victims of crimes against humanity and the principles of living together.

This positioning reinforces the fundamentals of the Republic which are based on respect for human dignity. It is of crucial symbolic strength in troubled times where reappear obscurantist and totalitarian ideologies which, not having been sanctioned after the Armenian genocide, continue to sow death and destruction not only on the same land where the incident occurred there are a hundred years, but also to Europe and France.

National Bureau of CCAF (Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France)

image-14-465x290-465x290 Nicolas Sarkozy, who was Wednesday night with Manuel Valls the guest of honor at the dinner Crefom (Representative Committee of French Overseas), reaffirmed his support for a law criminalizing denial of the Armenian genocide. In his introductory speech, Patrick Karam, president of Crefom, asked a series of questions to his guests, including one on their position on a possible extension of the Gayssot law in denial of the Armenian genocide and slavery. In his speech, former President of the Republic then grabbed up the ball for recall, with conviction, his positon on the subject.

The voluntary evocation of the principled position of Nicolas Sarkozy on the issue outside the Armenian context, that it was under his mandate had been voted the Boyer Act, which was eventually censured by the Constitutional Council, chaired by the the time by Jean-Louis Debre. This invalidation took place in an extremely tense between France and Turkey climate. The diplomatic situation between the two countries has since normalized, whereas this penalty law promised by the left yet to find a realization, a year before the end of term François Hollande.

Several hundred people attended the second dinner of the French overseas, including many problematics similar to those of the Armenians. Also participating in the evening a wide range of personalities among whom were Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Minister of Education, Mrs Valérie Pécresse, President of the Ile-de-France, as well as co-chairs of CCAF, Mourad Papazian and Ara Toranian.

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