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TURKEY'S PM TALKS TOUGH ON EVE OF FRENCH "GENOCIDE" VOTE
EuroNews - English Version
October 10, 2006
The Turkish Prime Minister has hit out at France, as a crisis looms
between the two countries. Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the French
to look at their own colonial past in Africa, instead of attacking
Ankara. He was speaking on the eve of a controversial parliamentary
vote in Paris that would make it a crime to deny that the mass killing
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was genocide.
Turkey, which hopes to join the European Union, maintains there was
no systematic genocide of Armenians during World War One. Recognition
of genocide allegations is not a condition of EU membership and the
President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso has said
new criteria should not be imposed.
But tomorrow's French vote has already provoked protests in Turkey.
And Europe's enlargement commissioner has warned that approval of the
bill could do serious harm to EU-Turkey relations. The Turkish foreign
ministry has warned that economic and political ties with France could
be damaged if the bill is passed. Ankara strongly rejects claims that
1.5 million Armenians perished at the hands of Ottoman Turks between
1915 and 1921 in a genocide, saying large numbers of Armenians and
Turks died in partisan conflict raging at the time.
EuroNews - English Version
October 10, 2006
The Turkish Prime Minister has hit out at France, as a crisis looms
between the two countries. Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the French
to look at their own colonial past in Africa, instead of attacking
Ankara. He was speaking on the eve of a controversial parliamentary
vote in Paris that would make it a crime to deny that the mass killing
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was genocide.
Turkey, which hopes to join the European Union, maintains there was
no systematic genocide of Armenians during World War One. Recognition
of genocide allegations is not a condition of EU membership and the
President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso has said
new criteria should not be imposed.
But tomorrow's French vote has already provoked protests in Turkey.
And Europe's enlargement commissioner has warned that approval of the
bill could do serious harm to EU-Turkey relations. The Turkish foreign
ministry has warned that economic and political ties with France could
be damaged if the bill is passed. Ankara strongly rejects claims that
1.5 million Armenians perished at the hands of Ottoman Turks between
1915 and 1921 in a genocide, saying large numbers of Armenians and
Turks died in partisan conflict raging at the time.