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TURKEY'S ERDOGAN SLAMS FRANCE OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Oct 11 2011
RFE/RL -- Turkish Prime Recep Tayyip Erdogan angrily rejected on
Tuesday French President Nicolas Sarkozy's calls for Turkey to
recognize the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire as genocide. Erdogan accused Sarkozy of playing the
anti-Turkish card to secure reelection and warned of serious damage
to relations between France and Turkey.
Visiting Armenia late last week, Sarkozy repeatedly reaffirmed
France's official recognition of the genocide and urged Ankara to
stop denying a premeditated government effort to wipe out Ottoman
Turkey's Armenian population.
"The genocide of Armenians is a historic reality that was recognized
by France. Collective denial is even worse than individual denial," he
said after laying flowers at the genocide memorial in Yerevan.Sarkozy,
who will be up for reelection next year, also implicitly threatened to
enact, within a "very brief" period, a law that would make Armenian
genocide denial a crime in France. Armenia -French President Nicolas
Sarkozy and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian lay flowers at
the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, 06Oct2011. â~@~Kâ~@~K"If
Turkey revisited its history, looked it in the face, with its shadows
and highlights, this recognition of the genocide would be sufficient,"
he said. "But if Turkey will not do this, then without a doubt it
would be necessary to go further."
The Turkish government was quick to denounce those remarks and link
them with the French presidential election. Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu said Sarkozy is thus seeking to gain votes from French
citizens of Armenian descent.Erdogan condemned the French leader in
even stronger terms as he addressed the Turkish parliament on Tuesday.
"This is not political leadership. Politics, first of all, requires
honesty," the AFP news agency quoted him as saying
."There are 600,000 Armenians in your country but also 500,000 Turks.
You have relations with Turkey," Erdogan continued, addressing
Sarkozy. "Bearing the title of statesman requires thinking about next
generations, not next elections," he said.
The French parliament officially recognized the slaughter of some 1.5
million Ottoman Armenians as genocide with a special law adopted in
2001. Although the move strained ties between Paris and Ankara, Turkey,
remains one of France's major trading partners outside the European
Union.Speaking at a news conference in Yerevan on Friday, Sarkozy
also described as "unacceptable" Turkey's refusal to unconditionally
reopen its border with Armenia. He at the same time urged his Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sarkisian to "continue the dialogue with Turkey."
Sarkozy spoke just days before the second anniversary of the signing
in Zurich of Turkish-Armenian agreements envisaging the normalization
of bilateral ties. Erdogan's government has made their ratification by
Turkey's parliament conditional on a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. Yerevan has rejected this linkage and threatened to formally
annul the accords.
Sarkisian hailed Sarkozy's calls for genocide recognition in a weekend
speech delivered in Echmiadzin, a historic town 25 kilometers south
of Yerevan. Sarkisian said they disproved his critics' claims his
Western-backed policy of rapprochement with Turkey will complicate
a broader international recognition of what many historians consider
the first genocide of the 20th century.
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Oct 11 2011
RFE/RL -- Turkish Prime Recep Tayyip Erdogan angrily rejected on
Tuesday French President Nicolas Sarkozy's calls for Turkey to
recognize the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire as genocide. Erdogan accused Sarkozy of playing the
anti-Turkish card to secure reelection and warned of serious damage
to relations between France and Turkey.
Visiting Armenia late last week, Sarkozy repeatedly reaffirmed
France's official recognition of the genocide and urged Ankara to
stop denying a premeditated government effort to wipe out Ottoman
Turkey's Armenian population.
"The genocide of Armenians is a historic reality that was recognized
by France. Collective denial is even worse than individual denial," he
said after laying flowers at the genocide memorial in Yerevan.Sarkozy,
who will be up for reelection next year, also implicitly threatened to
enact, within a "very brief" period, a law that would make Armenian
genocide denial a crime in France. Armenia -French President Nicolas
Sarkozy and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian lay flowers at
the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, 06Oct2011. â~@~Kâ~@~K"If
Turkey revisited its history, looked it in the face, with its shadows
and highlights, this recognition of the genocide would be sufficient,"
he said. "But if Turkey will not do this, then without a doubt it
would be necessary to go further."
The Turkish government was quick to denounce those remarks and link
them with the French presidential election. Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu said Sarkozy is thus seeking to gain votes from French
citizens of Armenian descent.Erdogan condemned the French leader in
even stronger terms as he addressed the Turkish parliament on Tuesday.
"This is not political leadership. Politics, first of all, requires
honesty," the AFP news agency quoted him as saying
."There are 600,000 Armenians in your country but also 500,000 Turks.
You have relations with Turkey," Erdogan continued, addressing
Sarkozy. "Bearing the title of statesman requires thinking about next
generations, not next elections," he said.
The French parliament officially recognized the slaughter of some 1.5
million Ottoman Armenians as genocide with a special law adopted in
2001. Although the move strained ties between Paris and Ankara, Turkey,
remains one of France's major trading partners outside the European
Union.Speaking at a news conference in Yerevan on Friday, Sarkozy
also described as "unacceptable" Turkey's refusal to unconditionally
reopen its border with Armenia. He at the same time urged his Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sarkisian to "continue the dialogue with Turkey."
Sarkozy spoke just days before the second anniversary of the signing
in Zurich of Turkish-Armenian agreements envisaging the normalization
of bilateral ties. Erdogan's government has made their ratification by
Turkey's parliament conditional on a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. Yerevan has rejected this linkage and threatened to formally
annul the accords.
Sarkisian hailed Sarkozy's calls for genocide recognition in a weekend
speech delivered in Echmiadzin, a historic town 25 kilometers south
of Yerevan. Sarkisian said they disproved his critics' claims his
Western-backed policy of rapprochement with Turkey will complicate
a broader international recognition of what many historians consider
the first genocide of the 20th century.