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Turkish Daily News
Oct 7 2006
France may lose Turkey if it adopts 'genocide' bill, Ankara warns
Saturday, October 7, 2006
Tan: The Armenian issue has poisoned bilateral ties in the past, but
the bill will inflict irreparable damage to our relationship
The Turkish capital warned Paris Friday that political and economic
ties between them will suffer if the French Parliament approves a
highly contentious bill that penalizes any denial of an Armenian
"genocide" at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.
"The Armenian issue has poisoned bilateral ties in the past, but
the bill will inflict irreparable damage to our relationship,"
Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan told reporters during a regular
press briefing.
The spokesman, with clear remarks, warned the move could jeopardize
"investments, the fruit of years of work, and France will -- so to
speak -- lose Turkey."
The French National Assembly's decision for the vote, scheduled for
Oct. 12, came at the request of the main opposition Socialist Party,
the bill's architect.
Appealing to the assembly to block the bill, Tan argued that
adoption of the bill would mean the elimination of freedom of
expression in France. "Our expectation is that France will avoid
taking the wrong step."
Though the conservative majority in the French assembly opposes the
bill, Turkey fears many opponents will not vote against it for fear
of upsetting France's 400,000-strong Armenian Diaspora ahead of
elections next year.
Tan said Turkey, too, faces presidential and parliamentary
elections in 2007.
"The people of Turkey will perceive this development as a hostile
attitude on the part of France," he said. "This draft will deliver a
heavy blow to bilateral relations and to the momentum previously
achieved."
Letter to Chirac:
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer sent a letter this week to his French
counterpart, Jacques Chirac, on the issue and Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdoðan will discuss the problem Saturday with French
businessmen in Istanbul, Tan said.
A delegation of Turkish lawmakers also warned of harm to French
trade during a visit to Paris earlier this week. They said Ankara
might expel an estimated 70,000 Armenians working illegally in Turkey
if the French law passes.
The Armenian bill was first brought to the French assembly in May,
but the vote was postponed to October after filibustering by the
ruling party. Turkey had at the time threatened trade sanctions
against France and briefly summoned its ambassador in Paris back for
consultations.
France, which has already passed a law recognizing the 1915
massacre as genocide, had $5.9 billion of exports to Turkey last
year, French Trade Ministry data show.
Turkey is stinging from comments by Chirac last weekend in the
Armenian capital Yerevan that Ankara must recognize the Armenian
killings as genocide before joining the European Union.
Ankara says it is ironic that France is preparing to punish those
who express a particular view of history at a time when Turkey is
under heavy EU pressure to change some of its own laws, which are
viewed as restricting freedom of expression.
Last week, Ankara reacted angrily to news that two Dutch political
parties had dropped three election candidates, all of Turkish origin,
for denying the alleged Armenian genocide.
The Netherlands, like the European Parliament and some other
countries, has urged Turkey to recognize the genocide claims.
--Boundary_(ID_JqD0E4u3DRlYgRH34adz9Q)--
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Oct 7 2006
France may lose Turkey if it adopts 'genocide' bill, Ankara warns
Saturday, October 7, 2006
Tan: The Armenian issue has poisoned bilateral ties in the past, but
the bill will inflict irreparable damage to our relationship
The Turkish capital warned Paris Friday that political and economic
ties between them will suffer if the French Parliament approves a
highly contentious bill that penalizes any denial of an Armenian
"genocide" at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.
"The Armenian issue has poisoned bilateral ties in the past, but
the bill will inflict irreparable damage to our relationship,"
Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan told reporters during a regular
press briefing.
The spokesman, with clear remarks, warned the move could jeopardize
"investments, the fruit of years of work, and France will -- so to
speak -- lose Turkey."
The French National Assembly's decision for the vote, scheduled for
Oct. 12, came at the request of the main opposition Socialist Party,
the bill's architect.
Appealing to the assembly to block the bill, Tan argued that
adoption of the bill would mean the elimination of freedom of
expression in France. "Our expectation is that France will avoid
taking the wrong step."
Though the conservative majority in the French assembly opposes the
bill, Turkey fears many opponents will not vote against it for fear
of upsetting France's 400,000-strong Armenian Diaspora ahead of
elections next year.
Tan said Turkey, too, faces presidential and parliamentary
elections in 2007.
"The people of Turkey will perceive this development as a hostile
attitude on the part of France," he said. "This draft will deliver a
heavy blow to bilateral relations and to the momentum previously
achieved."
Letter to Chirac:
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer sent a letter this week to his French
counterpart, Jacques Chirac, on the issue and Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdoðan will discuss the problem Saturday with French
businessmen in Istanbul, Tan said.
A delegation of Turkish lawmakers also warned of harm to French
trade during a visit to Paris earlier this week. They said Ankara
might expel an estimated 70,000 Armenians working illegally in Turkey
if the French law passes.
The Armenian bill was first brought to the French assembly in May,
but the vote was postponed to October after filibustering by the
ruling party. Turkey had at the time threatened trade sanctions
against France and briefly summoned its ambassador in Paris back for
consultations.
France, which has already passed a law recognizing the 1915
massacre as genocide, had $5.9 billion of exports to Turkey last
year, French Trade Ministry data show.
Turkey is stinging from comments by Chirac last weekend in the
Armenian capital Yerevan that Ankara must recognize the Armenian
killings as genocide before joining the European Union.
Ankara says it is ironic that France is preparing to punish those
who express a particular view of history at a time when Turkey is
under heavy EU pressure to change some of its own laws, which are
viewed as restricting freedom of expression.
Last week, Ankara reacted angrily to news that two Dutch political
parties had dropped three election candidates, all of Turkish origin,
for denying the alleged Armenian genocide.
The Netherlands, like the European Parliament and some other
countries, has urged Turkey to recognize the genocide claims.
--Boundary_(ID_JqD0E4u3DRlYgRH34adz9Q)--
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress