Clark University Professor Taner Akçam, who is the first Turkish scholar to publicly condemn the 1915 Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire, commented on the adoption of the bill criminalizing denial of this crime against humanity by the French Senate on Jan 23.
"I cannot judge the practical implication of this law for the French society, but this is definitely a huge victory for those who fight genocide denial on the international level,” prof. Akçam said.
“If we want to prevent genocides and mass crimes; if we want to increase the awareness against the crimes of Genocide and crimes against humanity, we should not allow the denialist regimes to bully the democratic nations in the international arena. Turkey must understand that bullying and threatening others is not the behavior of an international actor. Turkey cannot continue with repressive domestic policies toward its own history and minorities. It cannot threaten other countries in expressing their thoughts on 1915 and at the same time pretend to be a member of democratic countries of the world," he said.
“My hope is Turkey has learned a lesson from the French decision. Instead of threatening France, Turkey should do its homework and investigate the mastermind of Hrant Dink’s murder, mostly state officials, who are still free.”
