Islamic organization rejects French resolution

ISTANBUL (A.A) - The secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said on Friday that the OIC was rejecting the French resolution criminalizing the denial of Armenian allegations regarding the incidents of 1915. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said a country, which was the genuine champion of freedom of thought and expression, had proved that it was in a paradoxical dilemma as it rejected discussions on a historical allegation. "The Republic of France has three main principles, including freedom, equality and justice, and in my opinion this (resolution) harms at least the two of them," Ihsanoglu told AA correspondent in Istanbul. Ihsanoglu said those who backed people and circles that cursed on Prophet Mohammad and Islam's values and drew uncivilized cartoons by saying that "it was freedom of thought and expression", were passing a resolution regarding such a ridiculous historical allegation, and vowing to punish those who denied the allegations. "This is an indisputable and unacceptable paradox," Ihsanoglu also said. French Parliament adopted on Thursday a resolution that criminalizes rejection of Armenian allegations pertaining to the incidents of 1915. Only 70 out of 577 parliamentarians joined the voting of the resolution which was adopted with majority of votes.  The resolution envisages "one-year prison term and 45,000 Euro fine for those who deny genocide recognized by French laws." French Parliament had recognized so-called Armenian genocide in 1915 on January 29, 2001. The draft criminalizing the rejection of Armenian allegations had first been approved in 2006, but it could not become a law as French President Nicolas Sarkozy prevented its presentation to Senate. Now, the senate's approval is necessary to make the resolution a law.  Turkey strongly opposes the issue of the incidents of 1915 being used as a tool in French politics. Many believe that French President Sarkozy supports the Armenian resolution in order to garner support from France's Armenian population that number around 500,000. France will hold the first round of next year's presidential election on April 22 and the second round run-off on May 6. Sarkozy is running for a second term. If the resolution is not adopted at the senate till February 22, 2012 when the parliament and senate will recess for presidential elections, it will be invalid. (Reporting by Sengul Oymak/Sultan Cogalan)