Thousands of Turks gather in Paris to protest genocide bill
PARIS - Anatolia News Agency
AA photo
Thousands of people gathered in the French capital to protest a bill that penalizes rejection of Armenian genocide claims today.
Nearly 35,000 Turks living in France and other European countries gathered despite rain and cold weather to shun the bill .
The bill is seto to come to the French Senate floor Monday Jan. 23
when members of the Senate could vote to uphold a parliamentary
committee decision against the proposed law and drop the bill without
debate.
Protesters carried French, Turkish, Algerian and Azerbaijani flags and
chanted slogans urging senator to act against the legislation.
"I
have been living in France for fifty years and I haven't seen so many
Turks got together. Turks in Europe for the first time had the chance to
raise a strong voice against an injustice done to them," Demir Önger,
head of a Paris-based Turkish culture association said.
A bill proposed by the ruling party penalizes the rejection of
Armenian genocide claims in France with a 45,000 euro fine a and one
year in jail.
A similar bill -- proposed by the Socialist Party
-- was approved in 2006 by the lower house but the Senate rejected to
debate the bill in May 2011.
