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The Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada)
December 23, 2011 Friday
First Edition
French adopt Armenian genocide bill; Turkey upset
BY McClatchy-Tribune news service
The already strained relations between France and Turkey suffered a
further blow Thursday after France's National Assembly adopted a bill
making it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered genocide at the
hands of Ottoman Turks during the First World War.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted with predictable
anger, saying he was recalling Turkey's ambassador from Paris. He also
announced French military planes could no longer fly over Turkey;
French naval ships could no longer dock in Turkish ports; and all
military, political, economic and educational exchanges, visits and
commission meetings were cancelled.
"We don't have genocide in our history," Erdogan told reporters in Ankara.
The bill, which punishes denial of genocides by a year's imprisonment
and a fine of about $59,000, was adopted by a large majority of
parliamentarians.
France officially recognizes two genocides: the Nazi Holocaust during
the Second World War and the mass killings of Armenians in
Ottoman-controlled eastern Turkey during the First World War. The
country already has a law punishing Holocaust denial.
Armenians say that up to 1.5 million people were either killed or died
of neglect on deportation marches to the Syrian desert.
Ankara says between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians were killed, but it
argues the deaths were mainly the result of unrest following the
invasion of eastern Turkey by Russian forces and there was no
systematic policy to kill them.
December 23, 2011 Friday
First Edition
French adopt Armenian genocide bill; Turkey upset
BY McClatchy-Tribune news service
The already strained relations between France and Turkey suffered a
further blow Thursday after France's National Assembly adopted a bill
making it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered genocide at the
hands of Ottoman Turks during the First World War.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted with predictable
anger, saying he was recalling Turkey's ambassador from Paris. He also
announced French military planes could no longer fly over Turkey;
French naval ships could no longer dock in Turkish ports; and all
military, political, economic and educational exchanges, visits and
commission meetings were cancelled.
"We don't have genocide in our history," Erdogan told reporters in Ankara.
The bill, which punishes denial of genocides by a year's imprisonment
and a fine of about $59,000, was adopted by a large majority of
parliamentarians.
France officially recognizes two genocides: the Nazi Holocaust during
the Second World War and the mass killings of Armenians in
Ottoman-controlled eastern Turkey during the First World War. The
country already has a law punishing Holocaust denial.
Armenians say that up to 1.5 million people were either killed or died
of neglect on deportation marches to the Syrian desert.
Ankara says between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians were killed, but it
argues the deaths were mainly the result of unrest following the
invasion of eastern Turkey by Russian forces and there was no
systematic policy to kill them.