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Turkey's Parliament raps France's 'genocide' Bill

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  • Turkey's Parliament raps France's 'genocide' Bill

    Mail & Guardian Online, South Africa
    Oct 19 2006

    Turkey's Parliament raps France's 'genocide' Bill

    Ankara, Turkey
    19 October 2006 02:14

    Turkey's Parliament backed on Tuesday a declaration condemning the
    French National Assembly's approval of a draft Bill that would make
    it a crime to deny Armenians suffered genocide by Ottoman Turks in
    1915.

    But the government stopped short of taking measures against French
    interests and companies, aware this could harm Turkey's economy more
    than France's.

    Diplomats say the genocide Bill, approved by the lower house last
    Thursday, is unlikely to become law due to resistance from the upper
    chamber, the Senate and President Jacques Chirac.

    Turkish lawmakers said much damage had already been done.

    "Naturally, approval of the draft by the French Parliament will
    inflict irreparable damage on political, economic and military
    relations between Turkey and France," said the declaration which had
    the backing of all political parties.

    It said Armenia would pay a "heavy price" for using lobbies in France
    and in other countries against Turkey, although it did not say what
    that might entail.

    Turkey has no diplomatic relations with Armenia due to the tiny
    ex-Soviet republic's occupation of territory belonging to Ankara's
    Turkic-speaking ally Azerbaijan.

    France is home to Europe's largest Armenian diaspora.

    Ankara denies Armenians' claims they suffered a systematic genocide
    in Turkey during World War I, saying both Christian Armenians and
    Muslim Turks died in large numbers in a partisan conflict that
    accompanied the breakup of the Ottoman Empire.

    In Tuesday's debate in the Turkish Parliament, Foreign Minister
    Abdullah Gul said the "baseless" Armenian claims were nothing more
    than political propaganda.

    "We hope this bill stops halfway and that the French come to their
    senses," Gul said.

    Gul said the French Bill violated the principle of free speech, a key
    requirement of the European Union, which Turkey hopes to join. He
    said Ankara would fight the Bill in international courts if it ever
    became law in France. - Reuters
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