No surprises here. The controversial anti-racist bill that is fully supported by all the leftist parties in Greece also has the complete support of Turkey!
In a statement the Turkish Foreign Ministry describes as "hostile and racist initiatives" events for Memorial Day Pontian Genocide and calls the Greek parliament to 'discard those classifications that poison the Greco- Turkish friendship "and to endorse the positions of DIMAR Rep. Mary Repousi!
"(no. 150) Press Release Regarding Activities Organized in Greece Under the Banner “Pontian Genocide Memorial Day”
The common history of Turks and Greeks was again distorted this year, as in previous years, during the so called “Pontian Genocide Memorial Day” activities organized in May by certain circles in Greece, disregarding completely the scientific, moral and legal aspects of the issue. We condemn this frame of mind encouraged by the Law adopted by the Greek Parliament on 24 February 1994 and reject these allegations which poison Turkish-Greek friendship. We hope that peaceful and right-minded endeavours in Greece will overcome such hostile efforts and defeat racist initiatives which attempt to produce animosity from history."
Turkish interference in Greek internal matters and Ankara's little note on describing a day of remembers as a "racist initiative" was one of the main reasons why Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras totally rejected the proposals from PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos and DIMAR leader Fotis Kouvelis at a meeting that was held on Monday night that was set up to discuss the bill. Samaras was clear and strong in his position regarding the anti-racism bill. Following the meeting of political leaders, a message was sent out by the government to all concerned that it was not going to submit to this obvious controversial bill and an invitation was sent out to the other coalition partners "to find another solution."
But this did not stop Maria Repousi.
(Yes she is the same MP who for the second time exited the Parliament building when the House Speaker asked all representatives to hold a moment of silence in respect to the over 300,000 Greeks who lost their lives during that tragedy. She is also the same individual who had caused a national stir when she described the slaughtering and butchering of all these Greeks as a "gathering" in school textbooks.)
In a letter to SYRIZA's Committee on Human Rights Repousi called on the opposition to basically revolt and act quickly so that this bill can be passed. In simple words, Repousi asked SYRIZA to extend its influence on colleagues, political parties and journalists so that this bill could be ratified.
It should be reminded that on February 24, 1994, the Greek Parliament unanimously voted on proclaiming May 19 as the "Day of Remembrance for the Genocide of the Greeks in Asia Minor," something that Repousi totally denies ever happened!
On Monday night, PASOK and Democratic Left leaders pressured Samaras to accept the promotion of the legislation drawn up by the minister of Justice, or else Venizelos warned that PASOK would submit a draft law to tackle racist violence. As Venizelos said ND must vote for this bill, for which PASOK insists to be filed immediately and voted for by all the powers of the constitutional arc.
On his part, Kouvelis said it is a memorandum obligation for Greece to bring the anti-racism bill in the House, which he called as an act of substantive democracy. He also described any delay in filing the legislation as unacceptable and openly disagreed with the findings of the Central Legislative Committee (KENE), which spoke of unconstitutional provisions in the draft law.
Luckily the conservatives are not biting. Greece already has an anti-racist bill that has been in force for well over a decade, and which was drafted in complete respect with the Greek Constitution.
But as we all know, the Greek left has never really cared much for the Greek Constitution. And here is where the story gets even more interesting. In our last analysis here on HellasFrappe we told you that the bill that was submitted by DIMAR was translated into Greek. In other words, it was modeled for another European country and was not drafted in accordance with Greek history and especially this country's constitution.
Well slap us silly, but reports are now claiming that the new bill that PASOK wants to submit, is also a translation.
And in all fairness, we ask: Who and/or what force is pressuring the Greek government to vote for this law, which obviously disregards Greek legislature and especially Greek history?
Who wants Greeks to be penalized for recognizing the Genocide of the Greek Pontus people? (We can only guess who... Can you?)
PASOK which always worms its way into existence even at the toughest moments is now placing all of its chips on the SYRIZA and the DIMAR parties for support and Venizelos knows very well that they will endorse this fabricated law even though they know that it will never win the majority of the parliamentary vote. Besides, let us not forget that the law was sacked by the State Legislative Commission on Monday, and even if Venizelos finds a way to sneak it into Parliament again, being a Constitutionalist and all, it would still risk not being voted on because quite simply it cannot gain enough votes.
Let us explain. New Democracy, the Golden Dawn party and believe it or not even the Greek Communist Party are totally against this bill, (everyone for their own reasons of course). Make the additions yourselves, it does not tally up. The only reason we did not mention the Independent Greeks party is because they still refuse to take a position on this matter.
Submitting translated draft bills in Parliament is not a new thing for PASOK. The Memorandum was a prime example of this, as were many other bills.
The question remains: Who benefits from penalizing the Greek people from recognizing the Greek genocide in Pontus and Asia Minor?
Hmmm.....
(Now you know who is working for who...)
Signed
HellasFrappe
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