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   As it is known, one of the close friends of Armenia - the France Parliament - accepted a bill which made the denying of "Armenian Genocide" a crime Oct. 13.

Courtesy of Orxan Rzayev

Kevin Totti Corchiani - a senior at North Carolina State University

Its reflections have still been shown by Turkey and Turk republics.

   I think with this, France broke the law of freedom of speech. Where is the democracy? Is this how it is supposed to be? Yet, France is pushing on Turkey to be a more democratic government. I think if France wants something from Turkey, France has to be a good example for Turkey. But as we see in this situation, can we accept France as a good representative of democracy for Turkey? I don't think so.  Of course, as one of the most powerful lobbies, the Armenian lobby did a really good job in this issue. They have a really big influence in France politics and in other countries as well.

   This issue became most discussable in Turkey and in the world as well. You can also see many groups about this issue in Facebook. I have joined one of those groups, "Armenian Genocide is a HUGE LIE". Esat Tanik, a Turkish student who studies at Texas Tech University, opened the group, and the group is now controlled by Turkish students. I have watched the discussions in this group. I picked two members of the group to interview about the "Armenian Genocide" bill that France's Parliament accepted. As an Azerbaijani (Azeri Turk), I tried to be fair and picked non-Turkish and non-Armenian members who, I think, are great historians and politicians of future.
  

Courtesy of Orxan Rzayev

Rachel Salomon - a junior at the University of Maryland

   One of my interviewees, Kevin Totti Corchiani, was born May 11, 1981. A senior at North Carolina State University, he majors in history. He is an Italian-American with Turkish background. My second interviewee, Rachel Salomon, majors in Government and Politics and Jewish Studies as well as pursuing a minor in Middle Eastern studies at the University of Maryland. Her grandfather, of Turkish Jewish decent, immigrated to the USA.

   RO:  On Oct. 13, the French Parliament voted for a bill that would jail those who deny that the massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915-1917 constituted genocide. First of all what is Armenian Genocide? Had Armenian Genocide happened, what is the true history of Armenian Genocide? And how does this bill hurt freedom of speech?

   Corchiani:  First of all, I believe the French Parliament, as usual, is trying to get themselves involved with issues that have nothing to do with the French, and it involves other countries. The only thing the French are good at, in my opinion, is to go into a war and, in the process of getting defeated, call the USA for help.  The French Parliament as well as the president do not think of the consequences of their actions. Instead of helping Armenia and Turkey solve the historical debate in hand, which is whether Turkey committed genocide against Armenian during the period of 1915-1917.

   RO:   What is Armenian Genocide? During the 1915-1917, the Armenians claim that Turkey has committed genocide against the ethnic group. The meaning of genocide is the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political or cultural group. The Armenian genocide did not happen because during the 1915-1917 eras, the Ottoman Turks who have occupied the area were involved in World War I. The Armenian ethnic group like the Kurdish ethnic group along side a few others were all part of the Ottoman Empire. With the British Empire, trying to cease power and weaken the Ottoman Empire, came up with a master plan. The plan was to get the ethnic groups that lived within the Ottoman Empire to rise in revolt against their own government. In return, the British Empire promised these ethnic groups that they would grant them land afterward.  The British even set up a propaganda office called Wellington House to come up with schemes and lies to encourage their own soldiers as well as ethnic groups to rise against the Ottoman Turks.  While young Ottoman Turks were at war facing the opposition, the revolting Armenian Gorillas started to slaughter the women, children and elderly who were left behind.  When the fighting Turks received the news that innocent women and children were killed, they sent troops back to fight these groups. 

   During WWI, Turks had to face many betrayals from their own people such as the Armenians and the Kurds.  Many Turks and Armenians died because of the war.  The Ottoman Emperor at the time had to do something to protect his people from the Armenian up rise.  They decided to go into deportation process, in which many Armenians were forced to leave the Balkan region.  Around WWI, there were approximately 1.3 million Armenians living in the region. During the deportation, many Armenians lost their lives because of hunger, disease and revolt.  The Armenians claim that approximately 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives. They claim the Ottoman Empire at the time had planned to kill 1.5 million Armenians while only 1.3 million Armenians existed, which is proven by the census taken at the time.

   If one takes a look at the definition of genocide, then Turkey did not commit genocide against Armenia; instead, they defended themselves against the betrayal.  Even though the Armenians who live around the world claim there is genocide committed against them, 400 thousand Armenians living in Turkey today do not agree with their own government.

   If the French Parliament passes the bill, this could hurt Turkish - French relations. The bill itself is violating one of the core principles of the European Union, which is freedom of expression.  I believe, due to upcoming elections in France, the French party, trying to gain the support of a huge number of Armenians living in France, has decided to come up with propaganda to deceive their minds and gain the votes. Just like the British during WWI, the Armenians are drawn to something that has no gain to them. There are speculations that the Armenian diasporas and the opponents of Turkey’s EU membership bid are using this issue to prevent Turkey from joining and becoming the 25^th member of EU.

   Salomon:  According to Sir Winston Churchill, 'A lie gets half way around the world before the truth gets a chance to put her pants on.'  I think that this quote can very easily be applied to the so-called Armenian Genocide.  For way too long, Turks, like Native Americans in the US, have been vilified for absolutely no reason.  Part of this process of making Turks into villains is the forgery of the genocide by Armenian think-tanks in places like Paris.  Indeed, it is a fact that many of the documents that are used to prove this so-called genocide are forgeries.  It is true that many Armenians and Turks died during this period of history, which is tragic, but this does not make it genocide.  The official UN definition of genocide is when the goal of a certain political group is to exterminate an entire race, ethnicity or religion from existence.  Examples of this can be found in the Jewish Holocaust and Rwanda.  However, what is missing from the Armenian equation is intent.  The intent of Turkey was to suppress the Armenian revolt by whatever means necessary, not to kill off all Armenians.  It is true that many Armenians were expelled only to die in the dessert, but it was never Turkey’s intent to kill these people, which is why Turkey can not have possibly committed genocide.  This is the true history of the so-called Armenian Genocide.  And by France passing this law, they are suppressing debate on the topic.  Until the Armenians actually open up their records and prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was genocide, it is premature and irresponsible to pass such laws that prevent analytical research on the topic.

   RO:  In March 2005, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan invited Turkish, Armenian and international historians to create a Commission to analyze what happened in1915. But this invitation was rejected by Armenia: 'The historians have already said their piece, and it is now down to Turkey to determine its attitude,' Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oksanian said. Erdogan also said that Turkey is ready to open Ottoman’s archive about 1915 events. Why did Armenia reject to work with Turkey on this issue?

   Corchiani:  The reason that most American historians, as well as Turkish, believe the rejection by the Armenian Government came is because they are afraid the lies they have told over the years will come to end by historians further looking into history and studying Ottoman archives.  The Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian dismissed President Erdogan’s proposal for joining study of allegations of Armenian as 'groundless.'   I believe the Turkish Parliament is doing what they should be, which is trying to find a way to solve the conflict, but the Armenian government is not willing to work with the issue in hand instead they are trying to deceive the world with falsified facts and figures.

   Salomon:  Obviously, the Armenians have something to hide.  If they had nothing to hide, they would have no problem opening up their archives and working with Turkish historians to discover the truth about what really happened.

    RO:  Turkey criticized the French Parliament for voting for a bill that would jail those who deny the Armenian Genocide.  How would that affect Turkey-France relations?

   Corchiani:  I believe, by the French Parliament taking such action, it has hurt Turkish-French relations. There are many angry Turks around the world who have protested against the bill, which opposes freedom of speech; that is one of the core concepts of the French Constitution. Freedom of speech is often regarded as an integral concept in modern democracies. The right to freedom of speech is even guaranteed under the international law through numerous human rights instruments.  This could be found under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is a shame for the French Parliament to even think about such bill that limits the freedom of speech. Many Turks have freely said that if the bill is passed they will travel to France just to practice their freedom of speech and scream out loud that the Armenian Genocide is a huge lie, which it is.

   Salomon:  In the first eight months of 2006 alone, Turkish imports from France reached $4.5 billion.  About 250 French firms are active in Turkey, which employ around 65,000 people.  Turkey is strategically located at a crossroads between Europe and Asia.  It is a moderate Muslim democratic country with one of the strongest militaries in Europe and is a member of NATO.  On top of that, with this bill, what the French did in Algeria just might be labeled in Turkey as genocide, and people could be imprisoned for denying that genocide occurred in Algeria.  And the French Quarter of Istanbul could be renamed the Algerian Quarter.  Indeed, France has more to loose from Turkey than Turkey has to loose from France. 

   RO:  On other side, Armenians are happy for this bill.  "A natural continuation of France's principled and consistent defense of human and historic rights and values," Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oksanian said.

   EU has been pushing on Turkey to open borders with Armenia. What we can expect for the future of Turkey-Armenia relations, since this bill has been approved?
 

   Corchiani:  If the bill is approved, which is unlikely to happen due to pressure from foreign powers, but if this bill does pass then it will definitely not just hurt Turkish-Armenian relations but also Turkish-French relations.  I believe the Turkish nation and people around the world will boycott French goods and put a tariff that will hurt French economically world wide.  Turkey will also never open its borders to Armenia.
 
   Salomon:  I don’t think that this bill will change any thing between Armenia and Turkey.  Turks are stubborn people.  The French will not succeed in getting them to open up their borders with Armenia.  To the contrary, this law will make them less likely to do so.

   
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