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TURKISH BUSINESS URGES CALM OVER FRANCE'S ARMENIA BILL
by Burak Akinci
Agence France Presse -- English
October 15, 2006 Sunday
Turkish consumers were advised Sunday to cool their anger over the
French parliament's decision to criminalize denial that Armenian
massacres during World War I constituted genocide.
The appeals for calm from prominent business leaders came after French
President Jacques Chirac distanced himself from the parliamentary
measure.
The vice-president of the powerful Union of Chambers of Commerce and
Bourses (TOBB), Huseyin Uzulmez, warned against a wide-scale consumer
boycott that could have a major impact on economic relations, amounting
to eight billion euros (10 billion dollars) in two-way trade last year.
"We should not be too exaggerated in our reaction," he said,
according to the Anatolia news agency, and called on shoppers to
"use their reason."
The president of the Council of Chambers of Commerce and Industry,
Nafi Gural, said that to protest against France, "a boycott is perhaps
a sentimental rather than a logical decision."
Turks were outraged by the decision of the French National Assembly on
Thursday to pass a bill making it a crime to deny that the 1915-1917
massacres of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks constituted genocide --
stipulating a prison sentence of up to three years and a 45,000-euro
fine for transgressors.
But the bill still must be approved by the chamber of deputies in
a second reading, by the senate and by Chirac, who called Erdogan
Saturday to express "regrets" over the vote, according to the prime
minister.
A source close to the prime minister said Erdogan had called on Chirac
to annul the measure, which offends Turkey's sense of history.
The Turks do not deny that hundreds of thousands of Armenians were
massacred after they took up arms for independence and sided with
invading Russian troops as the Ottoman Empire fell apart. But they
say this was a tragedy of war in which equally as many Turks died,
and deny that the killings constituted deliberate genocide.
The National Assembly vote was heavily influenced by the large Armenian
minority living in France.
Chirac's staff confirmed that the president had discussed the issue
with Erdogan, and said that he had stood by a statement he made when
he visited Armenia on October 1, in which he reaffirmed the French
positions that the massacres constituted genocide but stressed the
inutility of the vote by the National Assembly.
"France has fully recognized the tragedy of the genocide and all the
rest is more like polemics than legislative reality," he had said in
Yerevan. During his trip to Armenia, he also said Turkey needed to
recognize the 1915-1917 massacres as genocide before it joins the EU,
and added it would become stronger thereby.
Nevertheless, Chirac's use of the word "regrets" was interpreted by
the newspaper Radikal as a sign of appeasement. "Chirac gives hope,"
the newspaper headlined.
Turkish officials have resisted calls for an outright boycott of
French goods with perhaps an eye on the country's precarious bid to
join the European Union.
Commercial ties between the two countries run deep. Some 250 French
companies have strong links with Turkey stretching back many years.
Automaker Renault, for example, employs hundreds of people at a
factory in the northwest of the country.
Lutfu Yenel, head of the Turkish affiliate of French telecoms group
Alcatel, said he was astounded by calls for a boycott of his company.
But although an official ban is unlikely, Turkish consumers and
businesses were expected to vent their anger by not buying French.
The country's consumer organization, for instance, has said that
a boycott would begin at the 500 gas stations in Turkey owned by
France's Total.
Every week there would be an appeal to boycott products from a new
French firm until the genocide bill is scrapped, the organization
threatened.
by Burak Akinci
Agence France Presse -- English
October 15, 2006 Sunday
Turkish consumers were advised Sunday to cool their anger over the
French parliament's decision to criminalize denial that Armenian
massacres during World War I constituted genocide.
The appeals for calm from prominent business leaders came after French
President Jacques Chirac distanced himself from the parliamentary
measure.
The vice-president of the powerful Union of Chambers of Commerce and
Bourses (TOBB), Huseyin Uzulmez, warned against a wide-scale consumer
boycott that could have a major impact on economic relations, amounting
to eight billion euros (10 billion dollars) in two-way trade last year.
"We should not be too exaggerated in our reaction," he said,
according to the Anatolia news agency, and called on shoppers to
"use their reason."
The president of the Council of Chambers of Commerce and Industry,
Nafi Gural, said that to protest against France, "a boycott is perhaps
a sentimental rather than a logical decision."
Turks were outraged by the decision of the French National Assembly on
Thursday to pass a bill making it a crime to deny that the 1915-1917
massacres of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks constituted genocide --
stipulating a prison sentence of up to three years and a 45,000-euro
fine for transgressors.
But the bill still must be approved by the chamber of deputies in
a second reading, by the senate and by Chirac, who called Erdogan
Saturday to express "regrets" over the vote, according to the prime
minister.
A source close to the prime minister said Erdogan had called on Chirac
to annul the measure, which offends Turkey's sense of history.
The Turks do not deny that hundreds of thousands of Armenians were
massacred after they took up arms for independence and sided with
invading Russian troops as the Ottoman Empire fell apart. But they
say this was a tragedy of war in which equally as many Turks died,
and deny that the killings constituted deliberate genocide.
The National Assembly vote was heavily influenced by the large Armenian
minority living in France.
Chirac's staff confirmed that the president had discussed the issue
with Erdogan, and said that he had stood by a statement he made when
he visited Armenia on October 1, in which he reaffirmed the French
positions that the massacres constituted genocide but stressed the
inutility of the vote by the National Assembly.
"France has fully recognized the tragedy of the genocide and all the
rest is more like polemics than legislative reality," he had said in
Yerevan. During his trip to Armenia, he also said Turkey needed to
recognize the 1915-1917 massacres as genocide before it joins the EU,
and added it would become stronger thereby.
Nevertheless, Chirac's use of the word "regrets" was interpreted by
the newspaper Radikal as a sign of appeasement. "Chirac gives hope,"
the newspaper headlined.
Turkish officials have resisted calls for an outright boycott of
French goods with perhaps an eye on the country's precarious bid to
join the European Union.
Commercial ties between the two countries run deep. Some 250 French
companies have strong links with Turkey stretching back many years.
Automaker Renault, for example, employs hundreds of people at a
factory in the northwest of the country.
Lutfu Yenel, head of the Turkish affiliate of French telecoms group
Alcatel, said he was astounded by calls for a boycott of his company.
But although an official ban is unlikely, Turkish consumers and
businesses were expected to vent their anger by not buying French.
The country's consumer organization, for instance, has said that
a boycott would begin at the 500 gas stations in Turkey owned by
France's Total.
Every week there would be an appeal to boycott products from a new
French firm until the genocide bill is scrapped, the organization
threatened.