France has passed the law banning denial of any officially-recognised crime against humanity (thus including the Armenian Genocide). Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian declared that it was a significant event ‘in the annals of the history of the protection of human rights worldwide’.
None of France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States complained about the criminalisation of the denial of the Atlantic slave trade. However, Turkish Embassy spokesman Engin Solakoğlu warned that ‘France is in the process of losing a strategic partner’ because of its criminalisation of the denial of the Armenian Genocide.
Before the vote, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, warned of ‘permanent sanctions‘; after the vote, Davutoğlu stated that the measures would ‘stay in place as long as the law stays in force’; and Turkey’s Ambassador to Paris, Tahsin Burcuoğlu, warned of ‘total rupture‘.
