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South Asian Media Network
December 23, 2011 Friday
Turkey to spat with France
PARIS/ANKARA
PARIS/ANKARA, Dec. 23 -- Relations between France and rising regional
power Turkey are likely to nose-dive after a vote in the French
parliament on Thursday that would make it a crime to deny that the
1915 mass killing of Armenians was genocide.
Faced with French President Nicolas Sarkozy's open hostility to
Turkey's all-but stagnant bid to join the European Union, and buoyed
by a fast-growing economy, Ankara has little to lose by picking a
political fight with Paris.
With Turkey taking an increasingly pivotal and influential role in the
Middle East, especially over Syria, Iran and Libya, France could
experience some diplomatic discomfort, and French firms could lose out
on lucrative Turkish contracts.
Even though nearly 100 years have passed since the killings that
coincided with World War One, successive Turkish governments and the
vast majority of Turks feel the charge of genocide is a direct insult
to their nation.
Turkish leaders also argue that the bill, proposed by 40 deputies from
Sarkozy's party, is a blatant attempt at winning the votes of 500,000
ethnic Armenians in France in next year's elections, limits freedom of
speech and is an unnecessary meddling by politicians in a business
best left to historians.
"This proposed law targets and is hostile to the Republic of Turkey,
the Turkish nation and the Turkish community living in France,"
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan wrote in a tersely worded letter
to Sarkozy last week.
"I want to state clearly that such steps will have grave consequences
for future relations between Turkey and France in political, economic,
cultural and all areas," he said.
The volume of trade between France and Turkey from January to November
this year was more than $13.5 billion, according to Turkish government
statistics. France is Turkey's fifth biggest export market and the
sixth biggest source of its imports.
"We have to remember international rules and with regard to Turkey
it's a member of the WTO (World Trade Organisation) and is linked to
the European Union by a customs union and these two commitments mean a
non-discriminatory policy towards all companies within the European
Union," said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero. The
Turkish government has ruled out an embargo, but has hinted at a
boycott. - Agencies
"There will be an effect on consumer preferences," said Turkish
Industry Minister Nihat Ergun.
Others went further and suggested French firms might lose out in
profitable defense deals and contracts to build energy pipelines and
Turkey's first nuclear power station.
"France is about to commit a political sin. Newly arising
French-Turkish ties in the energy sector may not be in a position to
overcome this," state-run Anatolian news agency quoted Energy Minister
Taner Yildiz as saying.
When France passed a law recognizing the killing of Armenians as
genocide in 2001, Turkey was in the midst of an economic crisis, and
reacted in a similar vein, but figures show trade between the two
countries nevertheless grew steadily.
The French lower house of parliament first passed a bill criminalizing
the denial of an Armenian genocide in 2006, but it was finally
rejected by the Senate in May of this year.
The new bill was made more general to outlaw the denial of any
genocide, partly in the hope of appeasing the Turks. While it is very
likely to be approved by the lower house, it could also face a long
passage into law, though its backers want to see it completed before
April's French presidential election.
Armenia, backed by many historians and parliaments, says some 1.5
million Christian Armenians were killed in what is now eastern Turkey
during World War One in a deliberate policy of genocide ordered by the
Ottoman Empire.
Ankara denies the killings constitute genocide and says many Muslim
Turks and Kurds were also put to death as Russian troops invaded
eastern Anatolia, often aided by Armenian militias Published by HT
Syndication with permission from South Asian Media Network.
December 23, 2011 Friday
Turkey to spat with France
PARIS/ANKARA
PARIS/ANKARA, Dec. 23 -- Relations between France and rising regional
power Turkey are likely to nose-dive after a vote in the French
parliament on Thursday that would make it a crime to deny that the
1915 mass killing of Armenians was genocide.
Faced with French President Nicolas Sarkozy's open hostility to
Turkey's all-but stagnant bid to join the European Union, and buoyed
by a fast-growing economy, Ankara has little to lose by picking a
political fight with Paris.
With Turkey taking an increasingly pivotal and influential role in the
Middle East, especially over Syria, Iran and Libya, France could
experience some diplomatic discomfort, and French firms could lose out
on lucrative Turkish contracts.
Even though nearly 100 years have passed since the killings that
coincided with World War One, successive Turkish governments and the
vast majority of Turks feel the charge of genocide is a direct insult
to their nation.
Turkish leaders also argue that the bill, proposed by 40 deputies from
Sarkozy's party, is a blatant attempt at winning the votes of 500,000
ethnic Armenians in France in next year's elections, limits freedom of
speech and is an unnecessary meddling by politicians in a business
best left to historians.
"This proposed law targets and is hostile to the Republic of Turkey,
the Turkish nation and the Turkish community living in France,"
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan wrote in a tersely worded letter
to Sarkozy last week.
"I want to state clearly that such steps will have grave consequences
for future relations between Turkey and France in political, economic,
cultural and all areas," he said.
The volume of trade between France and Turkey from January to November
this year was more than $13.5 billion, according to Turkish government
statistics. France is Turkey's fifth biggest export market and the
sixth biggest source of its imports.
"We have to remember international rules and with regard to Turkey
it's a member of the WTO (World Trade Organisation) and is linked to
the European Union by a customs union and these two commitments mean a
non-discriminatory policy towards all companies within the European
Union," said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero. The
Turkish government has ruled out an embargo, but has hinted at a
boycott. - Agencies
"There will be an effect on consumer preferences," said Turkish
Industry Minister Nihat Ergun.
Others went further and suggested French firms might lose out in
profitable defense deals and contracts to build energy pipelines and
Turkey's first nuclear power station.
"France is about to commit a political sin. Newly arising
French-Turkish ties in the energy sector may not be in a position to
overcome this," state-run Anatolian news agency quoted Energy Minister
Taner Yildiz as saying.
When France passed a law recognizing the killing of Armenians as
genocide in 2001, Turkey was in the midst of an economic crisis, and
reacted in a similar vein, but figures show trade between the two
countries nevertheless grew steadily.
The French lower house of parliament first passed a bill criminalizing
the denial of an Armenian genocide in 2006, but it was finally
rejected by the Senate in May of this year.
The new bill was made more general to outlaw the denial of any
genocide, partly in the hope of appeasing the Turks. While it is very
likely to be approved by the lower house, it could also face a long
passage into law, though its backers want to see it completed before
April's French presidential election.
Armenia, backed by many historians and parliaments, says some 1.5
million Christian Armenians were killed in what is now eastern Turkey
during World War One in a deliberate policy of genocide ordered by the
Ottoman Empire.
Ankara denies the killings constitute genocide and says many Muslim
Turks and Kurds were also put to death as Russian troops invaded
eastern Anatolia, often aided by Armenian militias Published by HT
Syndication with permission from South Asian Media Network.