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Agence France Presse
October 7, 2011 Friday 1:40 PM GMT
Turkish ministers rebuff Sarkozy over Armenia 'genocide'
ANKARA, Oct 7 2011
Turkey rejected French President Nicolas Sarkozy's call Friday for it
to recognise the World War I-era massacres of Armenians as genocide.
"It would be better ... if Monsieur Sarkozy abandons the role of
historian and puts his mind to getting his country out of the economic
gulf in which it finds itself and comes up with plans for the future
of the European Union," European Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis said.
"Our mission, as politicians, is not to define the past or past
events. It is to define the future," he added on a visit to Sarajevo,
quoted by the
Anatolia news agency.
Bagis accused Sarkozy of exploiting the Armenia question for electoral
reasons, saying, "he probably adopted this stance after being
frightened by the latest opinion polls in France."
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also accused Sarkozy of "political
opportunism" linked to French presidential elections next year.
"Those who tell Turkey to reconcile with its past should first look in
a mirror," he said, referring to France's colonial past.
Earlier Friday, Sarkozy urged Turkey to recognise, within a "very
brief" period, the 1915 massacres of Armenians under Turkish Ottoman
rule as genocide.
"From 1915 to 2011, it seems to be enough (time) for reflection,"
Sarkozy told reporters in Yerevan on the second day of his visit to
Armenia.
On Thursday, he had urged Turkey to "revisit its history" calling its
refusal to recognise the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians
as genocide as "unacceptable".
French Interior Minister Claude Gueant, in Ankara to sign a security
agreement, told journalists not to "overinterpret" Sarkozy's remarks,
saying he had set Turkey no deadline.
Asked how Paris would react if Turkey were to recognise the colonial
repression in Algeria as genocide, Gueant said Sarkozy had been in
Algeria and expressed himself in strong terms "on this painful moment
of our past.
"He has turned the page."
Sarkozy already angered Turkey ahead of his election in 2007 by
backing a law aimed at prosecuting those who denied genocide, although
the French lower house of parliament later rejected the measure.
The Armenian diaspora in France is estimated at around 500,000 people.
Armenians say that up to 1.5 million of their kin fell victim to
genocide during World War I under the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey counters that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many
Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up against their
Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian forces.
Gueant earlier signed an accord under which France and Turkey would
cooperate in cracking down on separatist militants of the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK).
nc-ba-ms/mlr
October 7, 2011 Friday 1:40 PM GMT
Turkish ministers rebuff Sarkozy over Armenia 'genocide'
ANKARA, Oct 7 2011
Turkey rejected French President Nicolas Sarkozy's call Friday for it
to recognise the World War I-era massacres of Armenians as genocide.
"It would be better ... if Monsieur Sarkozy abandons the role of
historian and puts his mind to getting his country out of the economic
gulf in which it finds itself and comes up with plans for the future
of the European Union," European Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis said.
"Our mission, as politicians, is not to define the past or past
events. It is to define the future," he added on a visit to Sarajevo,
quoted by the
Anatolia news agency.
Bagis accused Sarkozy of exploiting the Armenia question for electoral
reasons, saying, "he probably adopted this stance after being
frightened by the latest opinion polls in France."
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also accused Sarkozy of "political
opportunism" linked to French presidential elections next year.
"Those who tell Turkey to reconcile with its past should first look in
a mirror," he said, referring to France's colonial past.
Earlier Friday, Sarkozy urged Turkey to recognise, within a "very
brief" period, the 1915 massacres of Armenians under Turkish Ottoman
rule as genocide.
"From 1915 to 2011, it seems to be enough (time) for reflection,"
Sarkozy told reporters in Yerevan on the second day of his visit to
Armenia.
On Thursday, he had urged Turkey to "revisit its history" calling its
refusal to recognise the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians
as genocide as "unacceptable".
French Interior Minister Claude Gueant, in Ankara to sign a security
agreement, told journalists not to "overinterpret" Sarkozy's remarks,
saying he had set Turkey no deadline.
Asked how Paris would react if Turkey were to recognise the colonial
repression in Algeria as genocide, Gueant said Sarkozy had been in
Algeria and expressed himself in strong terms "on this painful moment
of our past.
"He has turned the page."
Sarkozy already angered Turkey ahead of his election in 2007 by
backing a law aimed at prosecuting those who denied genocide, although
the French lower house of parliament later rejected the measure.
The Armenian diaspora in France is estimated at around 500,000 people.
Armenians say that up to 1.5 million of their kin fell victim to
genocide during World War I under the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey counters that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many
Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up against their
Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian forces.
Gueant earlier signed an accord under which France and Turkey would
cooperate in cracking down on separatist militants of the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK).
nc-ba-ms/mlr