Swedish NGOs appeal to French president

The non-governmental organizations in Sweden, including Isvec Turk Dusunce ve Kultur Derneyi, Faktaforum Turkiet, Azerbajdzjaniers Kongress i Sverige (Riksförbundet), Umut Vakfı & Turk Evi , Federation of European Kazakh Associations , Swedish Turkish Business,  Network,  Turkiska Kvinnoförbundet , Föreningen Ataturks Ideér i Sverige and  Turkiska Ungdomsförbundet, appealed to the French President.

“The French National Assembly will vote to pass a law on Dec. 22, 2011, which criminalizes the denial of the ‘Armenian genocide’, according to the media. One of the conspicuous reasons for the timing of this seems to be the approaching election in France.”

“We, the non-governmental organizations in Sweden, are stunned and appalled by this motion. We have for so long held a belief that France was a progressive country who regarded, among others, freedom of speech as a constitutional right and value. We were also bewildered before when witnessing the French Parliament role-playing as some sort of repository of unquestionable historical facts and thereafter writing history as it sees fit and acting as a court,” the letter reads.

The NGOs expressed hope that France that for so long has proved to respect human rights will not pass a law which runs counter to the fundamental philosophy of France on human rights.


/Today.Az/