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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Dec 18 2011
Turkey toughens stance, tells France to face own `bloody history'
18 December 2011 / TODAY'S ZAMAN, ANKARA
Turkey has slammed France for what it calls attempts to judge Turkish
history before coming to terms with its own `dirty, bloody past' and
repeated warnings of consequences in response to a bill the French
legislature is readying to vote on that would criminalize denial that
the Ottoman-era killings of Armenians in 1915 was genocide.
`Today, nobody talks about the 45,000 Algerian deaths in 1945, or the
role of France in the massacre of 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994,'
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an said of France on Saturday
with a bitter criticism as he urged the country to face its own
history before judging the history of others with strictly political
motives. ErdoÄ?an's strong reaction came in response to a vote by the
French Senate to criminalize denial in France of the so-called
Armenian genocide of 1915 and make it punishable by a maximum one-year
prison sentence and a 45,000 euro fine -- a punishment that would
bring denial of the alleged genocide up to par with denial of the
Holocaust, the Associated Press news agency reported on Sunday.
`Those who do not wish to see genocide should take another peek at
their own dirty and bloody histories,' ErdoÄ?an said during a joint
press conference with Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, chairman of the Libyan
National Transitional Council (NTC). This was a clear message to
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who within the months leading up to
the French presidential elections, has ratcheted up his call on Turkey
to recognize these killings as genocide and face its history. Sarkozy,
previously an opponent of the denial vote, changed his stance in
October, when he announced he would support the denial bill unless
Turkey took immediate steps to recognize the deaths as genocide.
Accusing France of insincerity due to its `attack against Turkish
history based on unfounded allegations,' the Turkish prime minister
repeated Turkey's official stance regarding the Armenian deaths of
1915 as an historical matter that calls for the judgment of historians
and academics rather than as a matter of politics to be voted on in
parliaments. Ankara has also raised doubts regarding Sarkozy's motives
in changing his stance regarding the Turkish-Armenian conflict,
speculating that the French president might be seeking votes from the
strong Armenian community in France to gain an advantage over his
Socialist Party rival, François Hollande. Hollande is also a known
defender of `Armenian genocide' and voiced throughout his election
campaign that he would support a law to make genocide denial
punishable in French courts.
`The bill is completely against common sense. The toll [in the case
the bill passes into law] will be on French firms conducting business
in Turkey,' Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Egemen BaÄ?ıÅ? said on
Saturday, two days after Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu
invited executives from French firms in Turkey to his ministry to
discuss the possible results of such a law for French investment in
the country. `The bill is mainly the problem of French businesses that
are trying to work in this region through bases in Turkey,' BaÄ?ıÅ?
said, warning that the bill is sure to have financial effects that
might reach beyond Turkey.
`It is one of the nonsensical moves Sarkozy has initiated to win back
the support he has lost in France,' the first Turkish president of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Mevlüt
Ã?avuÅ?oÄ?lu, stated as he joined ErdoÄ?an in his warning that
consequences will not be pleasant for France if it passes the denial
law, Anatolia reported on Sunday.
Ã?avuÅ?oÄ?lu also stressed that he interprets the French move as part of
an election campaign, calling out Sarkozy for `using Turkey as a tool'
towards own his political motives. `It [the law that criminalizes
denial of Armenian genocide] is first and foremost against the
principles of the council [PACE], against the principle of freedom of
thought,' Ã?avuÅ?oÄ?lu said to highlight the discrepancy between the
French bill and European standards. He added, `You have the right to
recognize the alleged genocide, but I have the right to say it was not
genocide.'
In order to block the passage of the law through the French Senate,
which is now set to vote on it Thursday, Ankara has mobilized various
diplomatic efforts to convince the Senate to reconsider, warning of
dire political and economic consequences should the bill be passed.
ErdoÄ?an personally warned Sarkozy of `irreparable damage' in a letter
he sent to the French president last week, Anatolia reported. A
Turkish diplomat further alerted Paris that the Turkish ambassador
would be withdrawn for an indefinite period for consultations with
Ankara, but no response has been offered by Paris so far regarding the
ambassador.
Unmoved by Ankara's warnings, Sarkozy's ruling party reaffirmed its
faith in the bill, expressing support for its passage. Lawmakers
interviewed by Agence France-presse (AFP) said that they were
`determined at this time' that the bill not return from the Senate, as
it did back in 2006. France had previously brought the same bill to
the agenda five years ago, but the French Senate refused to discuss it
even though France recognized the Armenian deaths of 1915 as genocide
in 2001.
According to a Cihan news agency report on Sunday, regarding the
Turkish warnings as `blackmail,' French Senator Philippe Kaltenbach
said, `France should not give up on its values in the face of this
[Turkey's] attitude.' Kaltenbach also suggested Turkey is not sincere
in its warnings, since the country issued similar statements back in
2001 when France recognized the alleged Armenian genocide, but none of
its warnings were realized. `Turkey is after the same strategy [of
issuing threats],' Kaltenbach said.
Although modern Turkey recognizes there were a large number of
casualties during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the onset of
World War I, the country vehemently rejects allegations that there was
a systematic cleansing targeting the Armenian community in the
country, ruling the deaths casualties of civil unrest. Turkey also
claims that the casualties were from both sides, and the death toll --
estimated at more than a million by Armenia -- is inflated. Several
other countries recognize the killings as genocide, including Uruguay,
Chile, Argentina, Russia, Canada, Lebanon, Belgium, Greece, Italy, the
Vatican, Switzerland, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania and
Cyprus, according to AP reports.
Dec 18 2011
Turkey toughens stance, tells France to face own `bloody history'
18 December 2011 / TODAY'S ZAMAN, ANKARA
Turkey has slammed France for what it calls attempts to judge Turkish
history before coming to terms with its own `dirty, bloody past' and
repeated warnings of consequences in response to a bill the French
legislature is readying to vote on that would criminalize denial that
the Ottoman-era killings of Armenians in 1915 was genocide.
`Today, nobody talks about the 45,000 Algerian deaths in 1945, or the
role of France in the massacre of 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994,'
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an said of France on Saturday
with a bitter criticism as he urged the country to face its own
history before judging the history of others with strictly political
motives. ErdoÄ?an's strong reaction came in response to a vote by the
French Senate to criminalize denial in France of the so-called
Armenian genocide of 1915 and make it punishable by a maximum one-year
prison sentence and a 45,000 euro fine -- a punishment that would
bring denial of the alleged genocide up to par with denial of the
Holocaust, the Associated Press news agency reported on Sunday.
`Those who do not wish to see genocide should take another peek at
their own dirty and bloody histories,' ErdoÄ?an said during a joint
press conference with Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, chairman of the Libyan
National Transitional Council (NTC). This was a clear message to
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who within the months leading up to
the French presidential elections, has ratcheted up his call on Turkey
to recognize these killings as genocide and face its history. Sarkozy,
previously an opponent of the denial vote, changed his stance in
October, when he announced he would support the denial bill unless
Turkey took immediate steps to recognize the deaths as genocide.
Accusing France of insincerity due to its `attack against Turkish
history based on unfounded allegations,' the Turkish prime minister
repeated Turkey's official stance regarding the Armenian deaths of
1915 as an historical matter that calls for the judgment of historians
and academics rather than as a matter of politics to be voted on in
parliaments. Ankara has also raised doubts regarding Sarkozy's motives
in changing his stance regarding the Turkish-Armenian conflict,
speculating that the French president might be seeking votes from the
strong Armenian community in France to gain an advantage over his
Socialist Party rival, François Hollande. Hollande is also a known
defender of `Armenian genocide' and voiced throughout his election
campaign that he would support a law to make genocide denial
punishable in French courts.
`The bill is completely against common sense. The toll [in the case
the bill passes into law] will be on French firms conducting business
in Turkey,' Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Egemen BaÄ?ıÅ? said on
Saturday, two days after Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu
invited executives from French firms in Turkey to his ministry to
discuss the possible results of such a law for French investment in
the country. `The bill is mainly the problem of French businesses that
are trying to work in this region through bases in Turkey,' BaÄ?ıÅ?
said, warning that the bill is sure to have financial effects that
might reach beyond Turkey.
`It is one of the nonsensical moves Sarkozy has initiated to win back
the support he has lost in France,' the first Turkish president of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Mevlüt
Ã?avuÅ?oÄ?lu, stated as he joined ErdoÄ?an in his warning that
consequences will not be pleasant for France if it passes the denial
law, Anatolia reported on Sunday.
Ã?avuÅ?oÄ?lu also stressed that he interprets the French move as part of
an election campaign, calling out Sarkozy for `using Turkey as a tool'
towards own his political motives. `It [the law that criminalizes
denial of Armenian genocide] is first and foremost against the
principles of the council [PACE], against the principle of freedom of
thought,' Ã?avuÅ?oÄ?lu said to highlight the discrepancy between the
French bill and European standards. He added, `You have the right to
recognize the alleged genocide, but I have the right to say it was not
genocide.'
In order to block the passage of the law through the French Senate,
which is now set to vote on it Thursday, Ankara has mobilized various
diplomatic efforts to convince the Senate to reconsider, warning of
dire political and economic consequences should the bill be passed.
ErdoÄ?an personally warned Sarkozy of `irreparable damage' in a letter
he sent to the French president last week, Anatolia reported. A
Turkish diplomat further alerted Paris that the Turkish ambassador
would be withdrawn for an indefinite period for consultations with
Ankara, but no response has been offered by Paris so far regarding the
ambassador.
Unmoved by Ankara's warnings, Sarkozy's ruling party reaffirmed its
faith in the bill, expressing support for its passage. Lawmakers
interviewed by Agence France-presse (AFP) said that they were
`determined at this time' that the bill not return from the Senate, as
it did back in 2006. France had previously brought the same bill to
the agenda five years ago, but the French Senate refused to discuss it
even though France recognized the Armenian deaths of 1915 as genocide
in 2001.
According to a Cihan news agency report on Sunday, regarding the
Turkish warnings as `blackmail,' French Senator Philippe Kaltenbach
said, `France should not give up on its values in the face of this
[Turkey's] attitude.' Kaltenbach also suggested Turkey is not sincere
in its warnings, since the country issued similar statements back in
2001 when France recognized the alleged Armenian genocide, but none of
its warnings were realized. `Turkey is after the same strategy [of
issuing threats],' Kaltenbach said.
Although modern Turkey recognizes there were a large number of
casualties during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the onset of
World War I, the country vehemently rejects allegations that there was
a systematic cleansing targeting the Armenian community in the
country, ruling the deaths casualties of civil unrest. Turkey also
claims that the casualties were from both sides, and the death toll --
estimated at more than a million by Armenia -- is inflated. Several
other countries recognize the killings as genocide, including Uruguay,
Chile, Argentina, Russia, Canada, Lebanon, Belgium, Greece, Italy, the
Vatican, Switzerland, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania and
Cyprus, according to AP reports.