Azernews.Az

Europe is experiencing not only an economic crisis, but also a mentality crisis, a senior Azerbaijani lawmaker has said ahead of Thursday’s vote in the French Senate on a bill criminalizing denial of the alleged genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.

"By mentality crisis, I mean the subjective attitude toward other states and the desire to control other regions," Rabiyyat Aslanova, chairwoman of the parliament’s committee on human rights, told journalists in Baku. "All this suggests that subjectivism and the hegemony principle have not yet been left behind in some European countries."

Aslanova said further that many have already realized that Western countries manipulate with human rights and freedoms. She added that France’s move aimed at prosecution for failure to recognize the far-fetched "genocide" is a graphic example of infringement upon human rights and freedom of expression.

The lower house of France’s parliament, the National Assembly, has passed a bill which envisions a jail sentence of up to one year and a 45,000 euro fine for those denying that the World War I-era "genocide" of Armenians occurred. The bill now goes to the Senate, the parliament’s upper chamber, and then will be sent back to the French National Assembly. If endorsed again, it will be sent to the French president for signing.

The French legislature recognized the "genocide" in January 2001.