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TURKISH OFFICIAL: FRENCH GENOCIDE BILL IS ATTACK ON OUR DIGNITY - DPA
By Gary Dunn
The Australian Eye
http://www.theaustralianeye.com/news/turkish-official-french-genocide-bill-is-attack-on-our-dignity-dpa-aoi35812316.html
Dec 22 2011
PARIS _ Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made a final appeal
on Wednesday to French parliamentarians not to back a bill that would
make it a crime to deny that Armenians had suffered a "genocide"
at the hands of Ottoman Turks.
The lower house of France's parliament, the National Assembly, will
on Thursday vote on a bill, which would make denying genocides a
crime punishable with a year in jail and a fine of $59,000.
The bill is widely expected to pass but will not become law until it
is approved by the Senate.
Armenians say that the mass killings of Armenians in eastern Turkey
during World War I was genocide.
The Turkish government admits that more than 300,000 people were
killed but refuses to term the deaths a genocide.
In an interview with Le Monde newspaper, Davutoglu called the bill
"an attack on our (Turkish) national dignity" and warned that it
would not only harm relations between Turkey and France but also chill
relations between Turkey and Armenia, which have began a process of
normalizing ties.
"But now the process of rapprochement will be affected," he said,
adding: "This initiative kills dialogue."
Davutoglu accused France of double standards.
"When there were insults against the Prophet Mohammed, Europeans
said it was a question of freedom of expression. And now, they're
punishing an opinion," he accused.
The bill has caused anger in Turkey, whose Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan has warned President Nicolas Sarkozy of "grave consequences"
for bilateral relations.
Turkey has said it will immediately recall its ambassador if the bill
passes the Assembly.
A spokesman for the Turkish embassy in Paris, Engin Solakoglu, also
warned of consequences for cooperation on international issues.
Without specifically naming Syria, he told the German news agency dpa:
"Can you imagine France and Turkey taking any common measures on any
subject after such a hostile act?"
The two countries have been leading international condemnation of
Syria over its violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Both in Turkey and in France, the timing of the bill has been linked
to a presidential election next year in France, which has a small
but influential Armenian community.
A similar bill was approved by the assembly in 2006 but was rejected by
the Senate in May this year. That bill was proposed by the opposition
Socialists. The current bill was proposed by a member of Sarkozy's
ruling Union for a Popular Movement.
By Gary Dunn
The Australian Eye
http://www.theaustralianeye.com/news/turkish-official-french-genocide-bill-is-attack-on-our-dignity-dpa-aoi35812316.html
Dec 22 2011
PARIS _ Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made a final appeal
on Wednesday to French parliamentarians not to back a bill that would
make it a crime to deny that Armenians had suffered a "genocide"
at the hands of Ottoman Turks.
The lower house of France's parliament, the National Assembly, will
on Thursday vote on a bill, which would make denying genocides a
crime punishable with a year in jail and a fine of $59,000.
The bill is widely expected to pass but will not become law until it
is approved by the Senate.
Armenians say that the mass killings of Armenians in eastern Turkey
during World War I was genocide.
The Turkish government admits that more than 300,000 people were
killed but refuses to term the deaths a genocide.
In an interview with Le Monde newspaper, Davutoglu called the bill
"an attack on our (Turkish) national dignity" and warned that it
would not only harm relations between Turkey and France but also chill
relations between Turkey and Armenia, which have began a process of
normalizing ties.
"But now the process of rapprochement will be affected," he said,
adding: "This initiative kills dialogue."
Davutoglu accused France of double standards.
"When there were insults against the Prophet Mohammed, Europeans
said it was a question of freedom of expression. And now, they're
punishing an opinion," he accused.
The bill has caused anger in Turkey, whose Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan has warned President Nicolas Sarkozy of "grave consequences"
for bilateral relations.
Turkey has said it will immediately recall its ambassador if the bill
passes the Assembly.
A spokesman for the Turkish embassy in Paris, Engin Solakoglu, also
warned of consequences for cooperation on international issues.
Without specifically naming Syria, he told the German news agency dpa:
"Can you imagine France and Turkey taking any common measures on any
subject after such a hostile act?"
The two countries have been leading international condemnation of
Syria over its violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Both in Turkey and in France, the timing of the bill has been linked
to a presidential election next year in France, which has a small
but influential Armenian community.
A similar bill was approved by the assembly in 2006 but was rejected by
the Senate in May this year. That bill was proposed by the opposition
Socialists. The current bill was proposed by a member of Sarkozy's
ruling Union for a Popular Movement.