OIC parliamentary union shuns French denial law

PALEMBANG (A.A) - January 30, 2012 - Lawmakers from member countries of a parliamentary assembly of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation have agreed to reject in a final declaration of their conference a French legislation that makes it a crime to deny Armenian allegations on Ottoman era incidents of 1915. The OIC Parliamentary Union has decided to include a paragraph in the final declaration of their 7th Conference in Palembang, Indonesia, that shuns the French denial bill as "virtually non-existent" after a proposal by Turkish delegates to the conference and the backing of other members of the OIC Parliamentary Union.    "This is going to be the first joint response from an international meeting to the French bill which was adopted by the French senate," said Emrullah Isler, head of the Turkish delegation. The French bill makes denial of Ottoman era incidents of 1915 punishable in France with a prison term of one year and a fine of 45 thousand Euro. The bill has yet to go into force as a French constitutional committee had expressed "serious concerns" about the constitutionality of the legislation. Several members of the upper and lower houses of the French parliament have launched a campaign to appeal to a French higher court for the annulment of the legislation.