!ßÈÀ face="Verdana" size="2">The French Parliament is debating the new 'Armenian genocide' bill presented by the Socialists. The bill envisages up to five-year prison sentences and fines of up to 40,000 euros for the 'crime' of 'denying the Armenian genocide.' There is always the possibility that it will not be passed by the Senate or approved by Chirac. However, the fact that such an attempt is being made has sufficed to make Turkey very indignant. Obviously our patience is wearing thin, not only in the face of the PKK terror but also when dealing with the Armenian genocide allegations.

Gündüz Aktan
  The French Parliament is debating the new “Armenian genocide” bill presented by the Socialists. The bill envisages up to five-year prison sentences and fines of up to 40,000 euros for the “crime” of “denying the Armenian genocide.” There is always the possibility that it will not be passed by the Senate or approved by Chirac. However, the fact that such an attempt is being made has sufficed to make Turkey very indignant. Obviously our patience is wearing thin, not only in the face of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terror but also when dealing with the Armenian genocide allegations.

  Meanwhile, France projects the image of a country that can hardly cope with its own problems. The symptoms of this “French disease” are quite obvious: Weak leadership, inability to make necessary reforms, a “democratie immunitaire” where the people take solace in its privileges now that it has lost its will to adapt itself to changing conditions, and purposeless and destructive acts of protest. Encouraged by these developments, Le Pen is trying to form a racist front prior to next year's presidential election. In the last election, he had competed with Chirac in the second round of balloting. Meanwhile, by trying to do whatever Le Pen has been advocating about immigrants, Sarkozy is aiming to prevent votes from shifting to Le Pen. A terrific policy, indeed!

  A racist attitude that has surfaced in Europe all too often throughout its history --for hitherto obscure reasons and in not-yet-fully explained ways -- is now gaining ground and taking root once again in various parts of the continent, especially in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark and France. Meanwhile, Poland too is rapidly sliding towards racism.

  We met with that phenomenon first when we applied for EU membership in 1987 and, initially, we could not make sense of it. Later, Turks were burned to death in Möln and Solingen. And the Turkish Foreign Ministry commissioned a study to a renowned center in the U.S. state of Virginia on the subject. It was on that occasion that we got to know historical prejudices against the Turks. This is why the late President Turgut Özal dwelt extensively on the West European racism in his book “Turkey in Europe” (1988), stressing that that could be the main obstacle on Turkey's path to EU membership.

  Since I began writing articles for daily Radikal, I have tried to explain the perils of European racism. All that time, a number of liberal-minded writers in Turkey who are also ardent EU-lovers have found it difficult to believe the European civilization that they have glorified so much could be tainted by racism. They are sobering up only now.

  Those countries -- such as France -- that accuse us of having committed genocide against the Armenians are themselves in the grip of that racism. They committed incredible atrocities against the Jews during the Holocaust and now they choose to believe that we did the same things to the Armenians. In other words, they “displace” onto us the racial hatred they once felt towards the Jews, surmising that we feel a similar hatred towards the Armenians (and, more recently, towards the Kurds).

  Racism is a malignant type of prejudice, a mechanism that operates in the unconscious mind. For that reason, it is hard to detect and cure. “Turkey promotion programs” may not suffice to convince those prejudiced against us. Besides, the Islamist terrorism of the post-Sept. 11 period has added a new element to anti-Turkish racism. Thus, the racist person now has in his mind a “monolithic Muslim enemy,” an image that includes Turks as well.

  The legal approach is the main path to adopt to fight this phenomenon. Fortunately, Gül and the Foreign Ministry are acting with this awareness.

  In Massachusetts the Griswold case is continuing. Griswold wants his children to learn in school all views including the Turks' views on the Armenian genocide allegations. The country's strong tradition of freedom of expression is likely to overcome the “taboo” nature of the Armenian genocide allegations.

  Meanwhile, a Swiss prosecutor has filed a case in Lausanne due to Do?u Perinçek's anti-genocide statements, which have given Switzerland a jolt. By raising no objections to the opening of the case, Perinçek maintains his challenging stance. We hear that the court may take the path of delivering a judgment on whether the Armenians had been subjected to genocide. Then there will be the case involving Professor Yusuf Halaço?lu.

  Turkey must not engage in a lobbying activity aimed at preventing French Parliament from passing the Armenian genocide bill. On the contrary, Turkey must encourage the passing of that bill. Since the law would amount to a violation of freedom of expression (Article 10), Turkey could initiate a case against France at the European Court of Human Rights as envisioned in Article 33 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Turkey must show that according to the Genocide Convention France may not pass a law and restrict freedom of expression in the absence of a genocide decision taken by a competent court.

  Naturally, there is also the issue of going for adjudication or arbitration in a “Turkey vs. Armenia” kind of case. That would be the “mother of all cases,” indeed.

  The West means conducting one's struggles on legal ground. And the time has come to be Western.