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TURKEY AND FRANCE IN DIPLOMATIC ROW OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL
Daily Telegraph
22 Dec 2011
UK
Turkey halted military co-operation with France and suspended political
visits in retaliation for a French bill making it a criminal offence to
deny the 1915 mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was genocide.
About 3,000 French nationals of Turkish origin demonstrated peacefully
ahead of the vote Photo: AFP/GETTYBy Henry Samuel, Paris
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, said the vote,
which received cross-party support in France's National Assembly -
its lower house - would open "very grave and irreparable wounds"
in bilateral relations.
Turkey, a Nato member, is a key ally of France, and the pair have
worked closely together on tackling crises from Syria to Afghanistan.
Ankara had been piling on pressure for the law to be scrapped in
recent days, threatening grave consequences.
Mr Erdogan said he was recalling his ambassador in Paris to Ankara
for consultations.
"As of now, we are cancelling bilateral level political, economic
and military activities," he said. "We are suspending all kinds
of political consultations with France" and "bilateral military
co-operation, joint manoeuvres are cancelled as of now."
Related Articles Armenian genocide is a 'fact of history 21 Dec 2011
'The river flowed with blood' 18 Oct 2007 Turkey could expel 100,000
over 'genocide' row 17 Mar 2010 Turkey 'recalls French ambassador' over
Armenian genocide bill 22 Dec 2011 This means French military planes
have no authorisation to land and warships to dock in the country.
Turkey categorically rejects the term "genocide" to describe the
deaths of up to 1.5 million Christian Armenians in the First World
War in what is now eastern Turkey. Many Armenians and historians say
that the Ottoman government pursued a deliberate policy of genocide.
But the vast majority of Turks and their politicians take the term of
genocide as an insult to their nation, arguing that there was heavy
loss of life on both sides during fighting.
The bill - which still must be approved by the French Senate - was
put forward by members of President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling party,
and while the government insists it did not propose it, the bill
needed Mr Sarkozy's tacit consent.
Many French legislators insist the law - which will impose a 45,000
euro (£37,000) fine and a one-year jail term on genocide deniers -
is an overdue measure to protect what is a "historical fact".
But it has split the French Right. Alain Juppe, the French foreign
minister, slammed the vote as "useless and counterproductive".
"It's counterproductive as that's not the way to make the Turks move,"
he said. "The Turks are a proud people."
Relations between Mr Sarkozy and Turkey were long frosty due to his
strong opposition to its entry into the European Union, but ties had
thawed since Mr Juppe's arrival at the foreign ministry.
The minister said the vote went against a growing consensus that
"the duty to remember was better done by historians than MPs".
That said, he added: "Turkey should refrain from exerting undue
pressure. That's enough".
France passed a law recognising the killing of Armenians as genocide
in 2001. Turkey sought to exert pressure back then but it had little
effect on trade.
The French lower house first passed a bill criminalising the denial
of an Armenian genocide in 2006, but it was rejected by the Senate
in May this year.
The new bill was less specific, partly in a bid to appease the Turks,
outlawing the denial of any genocide.
It could theoretically be completed before parliament is suspended at
the end of February ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections.
Ankara considers the bill, blatant electioneering by both French
conservatives and opposition Socialists - an attempt to win the votes
of 500,000 ethnic Armenians in France in next year's elections.
It also claims the measure limits freedom of speech.
The French have questioned whether Turkey could impose unilateral
trade sanctions as a member of the World Trade Organisation.
France, which only recently recognised its role in wartime
collaboration with the Nazis, had been pushing Turkey to own up to
its history.
France should instead revisit its role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide
and its colonial past in North Africa, Turkish officials responded.
From: Baghdasarian
Daily Telegraph
22 Dec 2011
UK
Turkey halted military co-operation with France and suspended political
visits in retaliation for a French bill making it a criminal offence to
deny the 1915 mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was genocide.
About 3,000 French nationals of Turkish origin demonstrated peacefully
ahead of the vote Photo: AFP/GETTYBy Henry Samuel, Paris
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, said the vote,
which received cross-party support in France's National Assembly -
its lower house - would open "very grave and irreparable wounds"
in bilateral relations.
Turkey, a Nato member, is a key ally of France, and the pair have
worked closely together on tackling crises from Syria to Afghanistan.
Ankara had been piling on pressure for the law to be scrapped in
recent days, threatening grave consequences.
Mr Erdogan said he was recalling his ambassador in Paris to Ankara
for consultations.
"As of now, we are cancelling bilateral level political, economic
and military activities," he said. "We are suspending all kinds
of political consultations with France" and "bilateral military
co-operation, joint manoeuvres are cancelled as of now."
Related Articles Armenian genocide is a 'fact of history 21 Dec 2011
'The river flowed with blood' 18 Oct 2007 Turkey could expel 100,000
over 'genocide' row 17 Mar 2010 Turkey 'recalls French ambassador' over
Armenian genocide bill 22 Dec 2011 This means French military planes
have no authorisation to land and warships to dock in the country.
Turkey categorically rejects the term "genocide" to describe the
deaths of up to 1.5 million Christian Armenians in the First World
War in what is now eastern Turkey. Many Armenians and historians say
that the Ottoman government pursued a deliberate policy of genocide.
But the vast majority of Turks and their politicians take the term of
genocide as an insult to their nation, arguing that there was heavy
loss of life on both sides during fighting.
The bill - which still must be approved by the French Senate - was
put forward by members of President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling party,
and while the government insists it did not propose it, the bill
needed Mr Sarkozy's tacit consent.
Many French legislators insist the law - which will impose a 45,000
euro (£37,000) fine and a one-year jail term on genocide deniers -
is an overdue measure to protect what is a "historical fact".
But it has split the French Right. Alain Juppe, the French foreign
minister, slammed the vote as "useless and counterproductive".
"It's counterproductive as that's not the way to make the Turks move,"
he said. "The Turks are a proud people."
Relations between Mr Sarkozy and Turkey were long frosty due to his
strong opposition to its entry into the European Union, but ties had
thawed since Mr Juppe's arrival at the foreign ministry.
The minister said the vote went against a growing consensus that
"the duty to remember was better done by historians than MPs".
That said, he added: "Turkey should refrain from exerting undue
pressure. That's enough".
France passed a law recognising the killing of Armenians as genocide
in 2001. Turkey sought to exert pressure back then but it had little
effect on trade.
The French lower house first passed a bill criminalising the denial
of an Armenian genocide in 2006, but it was rejected by the Senate
in May this year.
The new bill was less specific, partly in a bid to appease the Turks,
outlawing the denial of any genocide.
It could theoretically be completed before parliament is suspended at
the end of February ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections.
Ankara considers the bill, blatant electioneering by both French
conservatives and opposition Socialists - an attempt to win the votes
of 500,000 ethnic Armenians in France in next year's elections.
It also claims the measure limits freedom of speech.
The French have questioned whether Turkey could impose unilateral
trade sanctions as a member of the World Trade Organisation.
France, which only recently recognised its role in wartime
collaboration with the Nazis, had been pushing Turkey to own up to
its history.
France should instead revisit its role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide
and its colonial past in North Africa, Turkish officials responded.
From: Baghdasarian