Turkish FM says French committee move shows Armenian bill is unlawful

BRUSSELS (A.A) - January 18, 2012 - Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday said a French bill over the Armenian allegations on the Ottoman era incidents of 1915 was unlawful "even by French laws," which he said was clearly shown by a French parliamentary committee decision to propose to drop the bill off the agenda without debating it at the Senate floor. "This shows that the attempt is unlawful even by the standards of the French laws. We hope that the French Senate will act wisely and drop it off the agenda even before debating it," Davutoglu told the Anadolu Agency. The bill is set to come to the Senate floor next Monday but French Senate members could vote to uphold the Legislations Committee's decision and drop the bill off the agenda without debating it. The bill, which got the approval of the lower house of the French parliament, makes denial of Ottoman era incidents of 1915 punishable in France with a prison term of one year and a fine of 45 thousand.  A similar bill -- proposed by the Socialist Party -- was approved in 2006 by the lower house but the Senate rejected to debate the bill last May when it upheld the committee's decision back then.