Tweet
FRENCH FM SEEKS TO CALM ROW OVER ARMENIA 'GENOCIDE' BILL
Agence France Presse -- English
October 9, 2006 Monday 5:19 PM GMT
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy telephoned his Turkish
counterpart Abdullah Gul Monday to try to defuse a looming row over
a bill before the National Assembly making it a punishable offence
to deny the Armenian "genocide".
Foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said Douste-Blazy was
at pains to stress that the French government does not back the bill,
which was tabled by the opposition Socialist Party (PS).
The minister "noted our attachment to the long-term future of relations
between Turkey and France ... and the support brought by France for
Turkey's European perspective."
The bill -- which was originally brought before the French parliament
in May -- is to be debated again on Thursday, amid considerable
uncertainty over its chances and outraged threats from Ankara over
damage to Franco-Turkish trade links.
Though the PS commands fewer than a third of seats in the Assembly,
several members of the ruling Union for a Poular Movement (UMP)
are thought to back the measure and the government has promised a
free vote.
Around 400,000 people of Armenian origin are estimated to live
in France.
The Socialist bill would make it punishable by up to five years in
prison and a fine of 45,000 euros (57,000 dollars) to deny that Turkish
troops committed genocide against the Armenians between 1915 and 1917.
A 2001 French law officially recognises the massacres of Armenians
as genocide.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million were slaughtered in orchestrated
killings between 1915 and 1917 by Turks, as the Ottoman Empire was
falling apart.
Turkey rejects the claims, saying 300,000 Armenians and at least as
many Turks died in civil strife when the Armenians took up arms for
independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with invading Russian
troops.
On a visit to Armenia 10 days ago, President Jacques Chirac said Turkey
should recognise the Armenian genocide as a condition for joining
the EU. However he also said the opposition bill was "deliberately
controversial".
Agence France Presse -- English
October 9, 2006 Monday 5:19 PM GMT
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy telephoned his Turkish
counterpart Abdullah Gul Monday to try to defuse a looming row over
a bill before the National Assembly making it a punishable offence
to deny the Armenian "genocide".
Foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said Douste-Blazy was
at pains to stress that the French government does not back the bill,
which was tabled by the opposition Socialist Party (PS).
The minister "noted our attachment to the long-term future of relations
between Turkey and France ... and the support brought by France for
Turkey's European perspective."
The bill -- which was originally brought before the French parliament
in May -- is to be debated again on Thursday, amid considerable
uncertainty over its chances and outraged threats from Ankara over
damage to Franco-Turkish trade links.
Though the PS commands fewer than a third of seats in the Assembly,
several members of the ruling Union for a Poular Movement (UMP)
are thought to back the measure and the government has promised a
free vote.
Around 400,000 people of Armenian origin are estimated to live
in France.
The Socialist bill would make it punishable by up to five years in
prison and a fine of 45,000 euros (57,000 dollars) to deny that Turkish
troops committed genocide against the Armenians between 1915 and 1917.
A 2001 French law officially recognises the massacres of Armenians
as genocide.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million were slaughtered in orchestrated
killings between 1915 and 1917 by Turks, as the Ottoman Empire was
falling apart.
Turkey rejects the claims, saying 300,000 Armenians and at least as
many Turks died in civil strife when the Armenians took up arms for
independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with invading Russian
troops.
On a visit to Armenia 10 days ago, President Jacques Chirac said Turkey
should recognise the Armenian genocide as a condition for joining
the EU. However he also said the opposition bill was "deliberately
controversial".