Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.29 / Trend, E.Mehdiyev /
Azerbaijan welcomes repealing of a law criminalizing denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide", which was adopted by the Senate, by the Constitutional Council of France, Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Social and Political Department Chief Ali Hasanov told Trend.
He said it is a result of measures taken by the Azerbaijani and Turkish governments, different structures of the two brotherly countries worldwide, including in France.
Since the adoption of this decision by the French Parliament and even before various structures representing Azerbaijan and Turkey, including state agencies, Azerbaijan embassies in European countries, representations in the Council of Europe, OSCE and other structures, diaspora organizations, our friends in the international organizations have undertaken relevant work that resulted in repealing the anti-democratic law, which is built on the false information," Hasanov underscored.
"In this regard, we congratulate Turkey and Azerbaijan. I think this is the first success of this kind of joint activity of these states that we have witnessed," Hasanov said.
He underlined that the Constitutional Council of France will have an impact on those countries who try to assess the so-called "Armenian genocide" by the politicization of this issue.
Hasanov also expressed the hope that in the future any historical events will be assessed not by politicians by the politicization of these events, but by historians after appropriate studies.
"In this case, various countries will not use them as a political factor," Hasanov stressed.
With regard to the so-called "Armenian genocide", Hasanov said that no "Armenian genocide" took place.
"It is fiction, component of anti-Turkish activity. Using a false story, they [the Armenian side] want to carry out their anti-Turkish activity around the world," Hasanov said.
He said repealing a decision by the French Constitutional Council, which was adopted by the country's National Assembly and Senate, is the result of joint activities of Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Hasanov said working with French MPs, who voted against the adoption of this bill, collection of signatures against this document required very serious efforts.
During this period, a group of MPs, members of the Friendship Group with Azerbaijan, which included the French MPs representing Nicolas Sarkozy's party, were invited to the country. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and the Heydar Aliyev Foundation President Mehriban Aliyeva met with them.
Head of State, Parliament and Presidential Administration gave various assessments to France's decision on this law.
All this has led to the fact that the number of people, who believe that the decision is wrong, increased in the French society, and the unfair law was repealed.
The Constitutional Court of France repealed a law criminalizing denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide" on Tuesday.
The Council justified it by the fact that the law contradicts Article 33 of the Constitution of France and freedom of speech.
Following this decision, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the government to prepare a new bill criminalizing denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide".
On Jan 23, after an eight-hour debate, the Senate adopted the bill criminalizing denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide". Some 127 senators voted in favor, while 86 voted against.
The bill demands a year's imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euro for denying the so-called genocide.
Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that the predecessor of the Turkey - Ottoman Empire had committed the 1915 genocide against the Armenians living in Anadolu, and achieved recognition of the "Armenian Genocide" by the parliaments of several countries.