Back to the Drawing Board: French Armenians and Turkish-French Relations

On February 28 2012, the Constitutional Court issued a decision invalidated legislation which would have made those who denied that the Armenians experienced genocide in 1915 subject to prison sentences, substantial fines, or both. Not surprisingly, shortly after the news broke out that the French court had decided to annul the law, there was relief and rejoicing among the Turkish public. The Turkish government had put into effect a number of measures against France when the Armenian bill had cleared the Assembleé Nationale, but has decided not to withdraw the initial set of measures, adding that other measures would be introduced if the French government continued to insist on its past course and reintroduce the bill.