French parliament set to discuss penalizing denial of 1915 incidents in Ottoman Empire

PARIS (A.A) - December 12, 2011 - French parliament is set to vote next week a bill that would make denial of the Ottoman-era incidents of 1915 punishable in France with a prison term of one year and a fine of 45 thousand euros. A similar bill -- proposed by the Socialist Party -- was approved in 2006 by the lower house of the French assembly but the Senate rejected to debate the bill last May.  In 2001, the French parliament adopted a law recognizing the incidents of 1915 as "genocide." Diplomatic sources close to the matter told the Anadolu Agency that the bill had the backing of French President Nicolas Sarkozy who had recently expressed support during a visit to Yerevan last October ahead of the presidential elections next year.       Turkish Foreign Ministry has rejected the attempt as a pre-election campaign move.