AHI Applauds French Assembly’s Bill to Criminalize Armenian Genocide Denial

Calls on President, U.S. Congress to Recognize Armenian Genocide, Pontian Genocide

WASHINGTON, DC — The American Hellenic Institute (AHI) applauds passage of a bill in the lower house of the French Parliament that would impose a fine and jail time for anyone who would deny the Armenian Genocide. The bill passed the French National Assembly on December 22, 2011.

“We applaud the French National Assembly for passing this bill,” said AHI President Nick Larigakis. “As international consensus continues to grow, it is high-time for the United States to acknowledge and properly commemorate the Armenian Genocide. We call on President Barack Obama to honor his campaign commitment to recognize the Armenian Genocide, and for Congress to pass House Resolution 304, which affirms the United States record on the Armenian Genocide.”

AHI has long called for an end to America’s denial of the Armenian Genocide and include the recognition of the Assyrian, Pontian and Anatolian Greek Genocides as defined by the U.N. Genocide Convention as stated in AHI’s Annual Policy Statements.

Larigakis added, “Furthermore, we call on Congress to introduce and adopt legislation recognizing the Pontian and Anatolian Greek Genocide as part of the genocides inflicted against the Armenians and Assyrians, which took the lives of more than two million of Turkey’s Christian population.”

The bill passed by the French National Assembly criminalizes the denial of the Armenian Genocide making its denial punishable by a $58,000 fine and one year in prison. The French Senate is expected to vote on the bill this March.

The American Hellenic Institute is an independent non-profit Greek American public policy center that works to strengthen relations between the United States and Greece and Cyprus, and within the Greek American community.

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For additional information, please contact Demetra Atsaloglou at (202) 785-8430 or at pr@ahiworld.org. For general information about the activities of AHI, please see our website at https://www.ahiworld.org