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Turkey Angered By French Bill On Armenians

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  • Turkey Angered By French Bill On Armenians

    TURKEY ANGERED BY FRENCH BILL ON ARMENIANS

    United Press International
    Oct 16 2006

    The French parliament's decision to make it a crime to deny that
    Armenians were victims of genocide by Turkey during World War I has
    deeply upset Turks.

    The parliament approved the measure last week. The bill now goes to
    the Senate.

    The Turkish resentment is so strong, says the International Herald
    Tribune, it has dampened enthusiasm over the awarding of the Nobel
    Prize for Literature to Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk.

    Pamuk himself had gone on trial before the case was dismissed on
    charges of "insulting Turkishness" for reportedly saying 1 million
    Armenians died in Turkey during World War I.

    Turkey accepts many Armenians died during the collapse of the Ottoman
    Empire but rejects the genocide accusation.

    The Nobel award comes at a time when most Turks would rather forget
    the Armenian killings. Turkey is also currently involved in delicate
    negotiations over its membership in the European Union, for which
    there is already much opposition in France.

    "The EU wants any excuse to keep out Muslim Turkey and the Armenia
    issue is just the latest example," a social worker who took part
    in a weekend protest in Istanbul against the French bill told the
    Herald Tribune.
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