Tweet
Business Recorder
Dec 18 2011
Turkey warns France against Armenian 'genocide' bill
December 18, 2011
JASPER MORTIMER
Turkey raised its stakes against France Friday, with its prime
minister warning President Nicholas Sarkozy of "terrible" consequences
if the French parliament passes a bill which would punish anyone
denying that the mass killing of Armenians in 1915-18 constituted
"genocide."
Armenians claim that up to 1.5 million Armenians citizens of the
Ottoman Empire were either killed or died of neglect on deportation
marches to the Syrian desert in 1915-18.
Turkey admits that some 300,000 Armenians died, but points out it was
because of unrest during the First World War when Russian forces
invaded eastern Turkey, where the bulk of the Armenians lived.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's warning, conveyed in a letter,
came two days after Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu rebuked
French legislators, saying their desire to ban free debate on the
Armenian killings harked back to the Middle Ages.
"If this bill is passed, France will lead the return of a medieval
mentality to Europe," Davutoglu told Turkish legislators.
However, the bill is widely supported in France's National Assembly
and is expected to pass when it goes to the vote on December 22.
France has half a million citizens of Armenian origin, and is holding
legislative and presidential elections in next year.
A delegation of five members of Turkey's parliament is flying to Paris
on Sunday to lobby their French counterparts against the bill.
An immediate consequence of the bill's approval will be the recall of
Turkey's ambassador and the freezing of Turkish-French relations, a
spokesman for the Turkish Embassy in Paris, Engin Solakoglu, told the
Hrriyet Daily News.
Erdogan wrote to Sarkozy that if the bill is passed, "the result will
be terrible for the multi-faceted relations between Turkey and France
- on the political, economic, cultural levels and, in fact, on every
level," the semi-official Anatolian Agency reported.
Turkey and France have an annual bilateral trade of 10.5 billion
dollars, and there are 1,000 French companies operating in Turkey.
Erdogan reminded Sarkozy, who came to Ankara in February, that the
French leader had once said he had no intention of allowing a bill on
the Armenian issue to become law.
Turkish-French relations should not be held hostage by the demands of
third parties, the prime minister said in his letter, referring to
France's Armenian community.
Advocates of the French bill argue it is hate speech to deny that the
1915-18 killings constitute "genocide", and that hate speech is beyond
freedom of expression.
Turkey points out that an equal number of Muslim Turks died in the fighting.
Turkey denies the Armenian killings were a case of genocide, saying
there was no systematic policy to kill Armenians.
But Armenians claim that the killings and deportation marches were
ordered by the government, and that the sheer number of deaths amounts
to genocide.
In 2009, Turkey and Armenia signed an agreement known as the Zurich
Protocols under which they promised to normalise their relations, open
their common border, and set up an independent historical commission
to investigate whether the events of 1915-18 constituted genocide or
not.
But the protocols have never been ratified as they fell foul of the
dispute between the two countries over Armenia's support for the
separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan - a
close ally of Turkey.
In a press conference for French journalists on Thursday, delegation
leader Volkan Bozkir, a former Turkish ambassador and chairman of the
parliament's foreign affairs committee, said it was regrettable that
the Armenian issue always emerged when France was on the verge of
elections.
http://www.brecorder.com/articles-a-letters/single/626/187/1262349/
Dec 18 2011
Turkey warns France against Armenian 'genocide' bill
December 18, 2011
JASPER MORTIMER
Turkey raised its stakes against France Friday, with its prime
minister warning President Nicholas Sarkozy of "terrible" consequences
if the French parliament passes a bill which would punish anyone
denying that the mass killing of Armenians in 1915-18 constituted
"genocide."
Armenians claim that up to 1.5 million Armenians citizens of the
Ottoman Empire were either killed or died of neglect on deportation
marches to the Syrian desert in 1915-18.
Turkey admits that some 300,000 Armenians died, but points out it was
because of unrest during the First World War when Russian forces
invaded eastern Turkey, where the bulk of the Armenians lived.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's warning, conveyed in a letter,
came two days after Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu rebuked
French legislators, saying their desire to ban free debate on the
Armenian killings harked back to the Middle Ages.
"If this bill is passed, France will lead the return of a medieval
mentality to Europe," Davutoglu told Turkish legislators.
However, the bill is widely supported in France's National Assembly
and is expected to pass when it goes to the vote on December 22.
France has half a million citizens of Armenian origin, and is holding
legislative and presidential elections in next year.
A delegation of five members of Turkey's parliament is flying to Paris
on Sunday to lobby their French counterparts against the bill.
An immediate consequence of the bill's approval will be the recall of
Turkey's ambassador and the freezing of Turkish-French relations, a
spokesman for the Turkish Embassy in Paris, Engin Solakoglu, told the
Hrriyet Daily News.
Erdogan wrote to Sarkozy that if the bill is passed, "the result will
be terrible for the multi-faceted relations between Turkey and France
- on the political, economic, cultural levels and, in fact, on every
level," the semi-official Anatolian Agency reported.
Turkey and France have an annual bilateral trade of 10.5 billion
dollars, and there are 1,000 French companies operating in Turkey.
Erdogan reminded Sarkozy, who came to Ankara in February, that the
French leader had once said he had no intention of allowing a bill on
the Armenian issue to become law.
Turkish-French relations should not be held hostage by the demands of
third parties, the prime minister said in his letter, referring to
France's Armenian community.
Advocates of the French bill argue it is hate speech to deny that the
1915-18 killings constitute "genocide", and that hate speech is beyond
freedom of expression.
Turkey points out that an equal number of Muslim Turks died in the fighting.
Turkey denies the Armenian killings were a case of genocide, saying
there was no systematic policy to kill Armenians.
But Armenians claim that the killings and deportation marches were
ordered by the government, and that the sheer number of deaths amounts
to genocide.
In 2009, Turkey and Armenia signed an agreement known as the Zurich
Protocols under which they promised to normalise their relations, open
their common border, and set up an independent historical commission
to investigate whether the events of 1915-18 constituted genocide or
not.
But the protocols have never been ratified as they fell foul of the
dispute between the two countries over Armenia's support for the
separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan - a
close ally of Turkey.
In a press conference for French journalists on Thursday, delegation
leader Volkan Bozkir, a former Turkish ambassador and chairman of the
parliament's foreign affairs committee, said it was regrettable that
the Armenian issue always emerged when France was on the verge of
elections.
http://www.brecorder.com/articles-a-letters/single/626/187/1262349/