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Xinhua General News Service, China
October 7, 2011 Friday 1:25 PM EST
Roundup: Turkey rebuffs Sarkozy over "Armenian genocide" remarks
ANKARA Oct. 7
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu rebuffed on Friday French
President Nicolas Sarkozy's call for Ankara to recognize the deaths of
Armenians in 1915 as " genocide."
"Those, who are not able to face their own history of having carried
out colonialism for centuries and treating foreign people as
second-class, do not have right to teach Turkey a history lesson or
call on Turkey to face its history," Davutoglu told reporters on
Friday.
During his visit to Armenia, Sarkozy urged Turkey to recognize the
deaths of Armenians in 1915 under Turkish Ottoman empire as genocide.
On Thursday, he called on Turkey to "reconsider its history," saying
Ankara's refusal to recognize the deaths of thousands of Armenians as
genocide is "unacceptable".
Armenians claim that more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a
systematic genocide during the World War I, but the Turkish government
insists that the Armenians were victims of widespread chaos and
governmental breakdown as the Ottoman empire collapsed before modern
Turkey was created in 1923.
Sarkozy once angered Turkey during his election campaign in 2007 by
backing a law that aimed at prosecuting those who denied genocide,
however the French lower house of parliament later rejected the move.
Latest remarks of Sarkozy angered Ankara again and Turkish officials
accused him of talking for internal politics.
"I consider such remarks as political opportunism, which is
unfortunately faced in Europe whenever there is an upcoming election,"
Davutoglu said.
The foreign minister said Sarkozy's remarks were totally in line with
internal politics in France, and it was something that would have a
negative impact on Turkish-Armenian relations, adding that "it is
impossible to think that such remarks would contribute to a peace
process."
Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis also criticized Sarkozy,
saying the French president would better to concern himself with
getting France out of its economic crisis than to play historian over
the Armenian issue.
Turkey and Armenia launched a reconciliation process in 2009 and
signed a protocol to take steps in order to normalize relations.
However, the two countries failed to advance the process.
The French president's remarks coincided with the visit of French
Interior Minister Claude Gueant to Ankara. Gueant and his Turkish
counterpart signed an agreement on Friday on anti-terror cooperation,
which is also overshadowed by Sarkozy's harsh-word call on Turkey.
Gueant said during a joint press conference with Turkish Interior
Minister Idris Naim Sahin in Ankara that Sarkozy did not set a
calendar about a motion to support Armenian allegations regarding 1915
incidents.
He added that he visited Turkey with the directives of Sarkozy, saying
he was in Ankara to sign the long-awaited security agreement, to which
Sarkozy attached great importance.
"The agreement also opens a door to technical cooperation as well as
operational cooperation between the two countries which will make
Turkey and France to take stance against terrorism and every type of
crime," Gueant told reporters.
The agreement covers cooperation on domestic security, anti-
terrorism, cross-border crime, illicit drug trafficking, and financial
crimes, Sahin said.
France would continue to support Turkey in fighting against the PKK,
Gueant noted, underlying that 38 PKK militants were arrested in France
in 2010 and 32 others have been arrested so far this year.
October 7, 2011 Friday 1:25 PM EST
Roundup: Turkey rebuffs Sarkozy over "Armenian genocide" remarks
ANKARA Oct. 7
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu rebuffed on Friday French
President Nicolas Sarkozy's call for Ankara to recognize the deaths of
Armenians in 1915 as " genocide."
"Those, who are not able to face their own history of having carried
out colonialism for centuries and treating foreign people as
second-class, do not have right to teach Turkey a history lesson or
call on Turkey to face its history," Davutoglu told reporters on
Friday.
During his visit to Armenia, Sarkozy urged Turkey to recognize the
deaths of Armenians in 1915 under Turkish Ottoman empire as genocide.
On Thursday, he called on Turkey to "reconsider its history," saying
Ankara's refusal to recognize the deaths of thousands of Armenians as
genocide is "unacceptable".
Armenians claim that more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a
systematic genocide during the World War I, but the Turkish government
insists that the Armenians were victims of widespread chaos and
governmental breakdown as the Ottoman empire collapsed before modern
Turkey was created in 1923.
Sarkozy once angered Turkey during his election campaign in 2007 by
backing a law that aimed at prosecuting those who denied genocide,
however the French lower house of parliament later rejected the move.
Latest remarks of Sarkozy angered Ankara again and Turkish officials
accused him of talking for internal politics.
"I consider such remarks as political opportunism, which is
unfortunately faced in Europe whenever there is an upcoming election,"
Davutoglu said.
The foreign minister said Sarkozy's remarks were totally in line with
internal politics in France, and it was something that would have a
negative impact on Turkish-Armenian relations, adding that "it is
impossible to think that such remarks would contribute to a peace
process."
Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis also criticized Sarkozy,
saying the French president would better to concern himself with
getting France out of its economic crisis than to play historian over
the Armenian issue.
Turkey and Armenia launched a reconciliation process in 2009 and
signed a protocol to take steps in order to normalize relations.
However, the two countries failed to advance the process.
The French president's remarks coincided with the visit of French
Interior Minister Claude Gueant to Ankara. Gueant and his Turkish
counterpart signed an agreement on Friday on anti-terror cooperation,
which is also overshadowed by Sarkozy's harsh-word call on Turkey.
Gueant said during a joint press conference with Turkish Interior
Minister Idris Naim Sahin in Ankara that Sarkozy did not set a
calendar about a motion to support Armenian allegations regarding 1915
incidents.
He added that he visited Turkey with the directives of Sarkozy, saying
he was in Ankara to sign the long-awaited security agreement, to which
Sarkozy attached great importance.
"The agreement also opens a door to technical cooperation as well as
operational cooperation between the two countries which will make
Turkey and France to take stance against terrorism and every type of
crime," Gueant told reporters.
The agreement covers cooperation on domestic security, anti-
terrorism, cross-border crime, illicit drug trafficking, and financial
crimes, Sahin said.
France would continue to support Turkey in fighting against the PKK,
Gueant noted, underlying that 38 PKK militants were arrested in France
in 2010 and 32 others have been arrested so far this year.