COMMENTS IN THE ITALIAN PRESS ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL PASSED BY THE FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

On the 28th of December 2011, in Corriere della Sera, one of the leading and most sold Italian newspaper, Sergio Romano, former diplomat and ambassador, wrote an article on the Armenian issue entitled “Condannare il Negazionismo ma no alla storia di Stato”

Sergio Romano, in answering to a couple of letters on the French bill passed by the French National Assembly on the Armenian genocide, underlined why democratic parliaments should not “write” history and use it as a tool in the national and international agenda. According to him, in this case, a country proclaims itself as an ethic State, which is allowed to impose dogmas and principles. When a personal understanding on a historical event becomes law, doubts are not anymore allowed and different understandings cannot be proposed. In explaining his point of view, Sergio Romano asks several questions on the Armenian issue that make him question on the different purpose of the French bill. Finally, Romano ends his reply with an interesting question: “Should I clap to a law that is restoring the crime of heresy and will not allow me to think, discuss and argue?”

The article published in Italian in la Corriera della sera can be found in the following link:

http://www.corriere.it/lettere-al-corriere/11_Dicembre_28/CONDANNARE-IL-NEGAZIONISMO-MA-NO-ALLA-STORIA-DI-STATO_fcb60832-3121-11e1-b43c-7e9ccdb19a32.shtml