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TURKISH LAWMAKERS LOBBY AGAINST FRANCE'S ARMENIAN "GENOCIDE" BILL
Monsters and Critics.com
Dec 19 2011
Paris - A group of Turkish parliamentarians held talks Monday with
senior French politicians in a frantic attempt to stave off a French
bill that would make it a crime to deny that Armenians were the
victims of a genocide.
Armenians say 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 argues it was
because of unrest during the First World War when Russian forces
invaded eastern Turkey, where most of the Armenians lived.
The delegation, led by Volkan Bozkir, president of the Turkish
parliament's foreign affairs commission, met with Alex Poniatowski,
Bozkir's counterpart in France's National Assembly and with Pierre
Moscovici, a senior member of the opposition Socialist Party.
On Tuesday they were scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister Alain
Juppe and the president of the National Assembly, Bernard Accoyer
before returning to Ankara on Wednesday.
Turkey is scrambling to try head off a vote Thursday in the French
parliament on the bill, which would make denying genocides a crime
punishable by a year's imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros
(58,535 dollars).
The bill would cover Armenia, because France in 2001 declared the
mass killings of Armenians in eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1918
constituted a 'genocide.'
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week warned French
President Nicolas Sarkozy in a letter of 'terrible' consequences
for bilateral relations if the bill was passed, the semi-official
Anatolian Agency reported.
A spokesman for the Turkish Embassy in Paris, Engin Solakoglu, told dpa
Monday that the bill's expected approval would lead to the immediate
recall of Turkey's ambassador and the 'quasi-breakdown' in relations.
Both in Turkey and in France, the timing of the bill has been linked
to upcoming presidential polls, in which Sarkozy is expected to
seek re-election
France has half a million citizens of Armenian origin. Before becoming
president in 2007 Sarkozy had promised them he would push through
legislation banning genocide denial.
From: Baghdasarian
Monsters and Critics.com
Dec 19 2011
Paris - A group of Turkish parliamentarians held talks Monday with
senior French politicians in a frantic attempt to stave off a French
bill that would make it a crime to deny that Armenians were the
victims of a genocide.
Armenians say 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 argues it was
because of unrest during the First World War when Russian forces
invaded eastern Turkey, where most of the Armenians lived.
The delegation, led by Volkan Bozkir, president of the Turkish
parliament's foreign affairs commission, met with Alex Poniatowski,
Bozkir's counterpart in France's National Assembly and with Pierre
Moscovici, a senior member of the opposition Socialist Party.
On Tuesday they were scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister Alain
Juppe and the president of the National Assembly, Bernard Accoyer
before returning to Ankara on Wednesday.
Turkey is scrambling to try head off a vote Thursday in the French
parliament on the bill, which would make denying genocides a crime
punishable by a year's imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros
(58,535 dollars).
The bill would cover Armenia, because France in 2001 declared the
mass killings of Armenians in eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1918
constituted a 'genocide.'
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week warned French
President Nicolas Sarkozy in a letter of 'terrible' consequences
for bilateral relations if the bill was passed, the semi-official
Anatolian Agency reported.
A spokesman for the Turkish Embassy in Paris, Engin Solakoglu, told dpa
Monday that the bill's expected approval would lead to the immediate
recall of Turkey's ambassador and the 'quasi-breakdown' in relations.
Both in Turkey and in France, the timing of the bill has been linked
to upcoming presidential polls, in which Sarkozy is expected to
seek re-election
France has half a million citizens of Armenian origin. Before becoming
president in 2007 Sarkozy had promised them he would push through
legislation banning genocide denial.
From: Baghdasarian