Wednesday, 18 November 2009
By Jan Soykok and wires
A bill making it a crime to deny the so-called Armenian genocide has yet to be approved by the French Senate; however, French schools have started to punish Turkish students who deny the alleged genocide.
Mustafa Dogan, a 13-year-old Turk, was suspended from a school in Nancy after insisting that there was no Armenian genocide.
Most Armenians term as 'genocide' a series of tragic events during a war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire that played out in East Anatolia.
France has been determined to push Turkey to acknowledge that the Armenian allegations are true. Turkey, in turn, has proposed that a committee of historians, not politicians, should decide what transpired in 1915. France is also against Turkey's EU membership. French President Sarkozy argues that Turkey is not European due to its religion, culture and civilization.
The French Parliament recognized the Armenian accusations against the Turks in 2001, which resulted in short-lived tension between France and Turkey. In 2006 the French National Assembly adopted a bill proposing a punishment for anyone who denies the so-called Armenian genocide. However, it has been three years, and the bill has yet to be passed by the Senate, let alone be enforced. Nicolas Sarkozy’s government is also reluctant to see passage of the bill in parliament.
13 year-old Turkish student Dogan’s history teacher asked a question about the events of 1915 and the so-called “Armenian genocide” in a written exam. Having previously argued with the teacher over the issue, the Turkish student became angry and wrote, “Even if it did happen, they deserved it.”
Speaking to Turkish media, Dogan said his teacher threatened to give him a zero on the exam if he denied the so-called genocide.
“This was an important exam and necessary to finish secondary school,” Dogan said.
Following the exam, the school principal phoned Dogan’s father and requested an immediate meeting, claiming that his son had violated French law. In turn, father Mehmet Dogan said he had not seen any law stipulating punishing those who deny the Armenian genocide.
“I now see where your son learns such things,” the principal allegedly told the father.
Following the quarrel, the school’s disciplinary committee suspended Mustafa Dogan for two days and gave him an assignment in which he was to recognize the validity of the genocide within two days.
The homework was to be titled “Armenian Genocide Committed by the Ottoman Empire: a Crime against Humanity,” and Dogan was asked to research the historical context of the events, write a detailed list of how many people were killed and how it was organized, meet with tragedy survivors, state that he recognizes the so-called genocide and focus on militant Turks who committed the genocide.
While researching the events, Dogan was to not look at Turkish Web sites or consult Wikipedia. Dogan was to prepare the assignment and present it in front of his class. However, the Turkish student refused to do the assignment.
“We gave you a chance to correct your mistake, now recognize the genocide!” the history teacher reportedly told him. While Dogan claimed that the bill in question had not yet been adopted, the teacher reportedly did not listen.
All these events point to a troubling trend in French schools with respect to the punishment for so-called Armenian genocide denial.
The European Union adopted a law on war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide denial in January stating that only after a verdict has been issued by an international court can such cases proceed to trial.
Mehmet Dogan accuses the school principal of racism. Noting that the teacher is putting pressure on his 13-year-old son, a boy who can easily be provoked due to his age, Dogan accused the teacher of inciting his son’s reaction.
Saying he also does not recognize the genocide and supports his son in this, Mehmet Dogan said: “I wish he hadn’t written ‘Even if [the genocide] did happen, they deserved it.’
Officials from COJEP, a Strasbourg-based civil society organization established by Turks, and Mehmet Dogan will meet with school authorities on Friday to discuss Mustafa Dogan’s case.
When asked for his opinion on the case, the principal of the Jacques Marquette secondary school, Francis Vignola said he supported the sanctions placed on Mustafa Dogan.
1915 the Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire made co-operation with the occupier Russians and attacked the Turkish Army, and the armed Armenian groups forced the Muslim population to leave the certain provinces in the Eastern Ottoman territories. More than 520.000 Muslim civilians and some Jewish people were massacred by the Armenian terrorists and the rioters. As a result the Istanbul Government decided to relocate the Armenian population in the sensitive areas to Syria, one of the Ottoman provinces. The bad weather conditions, war curcumstances, epidemic diseases and communal clashes caused a tragedy and many Armenians died during the relocation campaign. Turkish Government declared it is sorry for Armenian and Turkish victims of the 1915 but never accepts the Armenian allegations.
Turkish experts generally argue that France abuses the Armenian issue in order to keep Turkey outside of the EU. Dr. Nilgun Gulcan for instance finds French politicians anti-Turkey: "France uses Armenians to prevent Turkish EU membership. They know they cannot keep Turkey outside for a long time and they abuses the problems with Armenia, Greek Cyprus, Greece and Israel. France plays a dirty game, Sarkozy seeks to undermine Turkey. This is a genocide terror. This is genocide of truth. Turks in France cannot speak, they cannot defend themselves".
Dr. Gulcan further argued that France is not a free country for the Turks: "We all see after the 9/11 that the US and many EU countries are not free countries for the Muslims. And we now understand that Turks in France are the second-class citizens. French Government does not allow them to express their ideas. Sarkozy's France is a racist country. France is against Turkey's religion and culture and this is an obvious example of racism and discrimination".
