Tweet
TURKEY WELCOMES APPEAL OF FRENCH "GENOCIDE" BILL
EastDay.com
http://english.eastday.com/e/120201/u1a6337279.html
Feb 1 2012
China
ANKARA, Jan. 31 -- Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday welcomed an
appeal of a French bill that incriminates anyone who denies Armenia's
take on the incidents of 1915 to the Constitutional Council for
annulment.
"We welcome this most honorable initiative. We will now wait for the
Constitutional Council's ruling, which we believe would fit with the
France's rooted tradition of democracy and of rule of law," said the
Foreign Ministry in a press release.
Meanwhile, Turkey's Ambassador Tahsin Burcuoglu to France on Tuesday
said he expected the French Constitutional Council to annul the
legislation that makes it a crime to deny that the incidents occurred
in 1915 during the Ottoman era were a "genocide. "
"We have received the result we want. We thank everyone who extended
support. Turkish-French relations could not survive such a law. And
we expect a positive ruling from the council," Burcuoglu was quoted
as saying by the semi-official Anatolia news agency.
In France, even if a bill has been approved by the Senate, it can
still be appealed to the Constitutional Court if a large number of
lawmakers file for it.
The French Senate voted last Monday 127 to 86 in favor of the bill
after hours of debate. The bill, yet to be signed by French President
Nicolas Sarkozy, was passed in the French National Assembly, the
lower house of parliament, on Dec. 22 last year.
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.
The two countries signed protocols to normalize relations last
October but the protocols needed to be ratified by the two countries'
parliaments before taking effect. Turkish authorities have warned
that the row over the "genocide" claims could hamper the normalization
process.
EastDay.com
http://english.eastday.com/e/120201/u1a6337279.html
Feb 1 2012
China
ANKARA, Jan. 31 -- Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday welcomed an
appeal of a French bill that incriminates anyone who denies Armenia's
take on the incidents of 1915 to the Constitutional Council for
annulment.
"We welcome this most honorable initiative. We will now wait for the
Constitutional Council's ruling, which we believe would fit with the
France's rooted tradition of democracy and of rule of law," said the
Foreign Ministry in a press release.
Meanwhile, Turkey's Ambassador Tahsin Burcuoglu to France on Tuesday
said he expected the French Constitutional Council to annul the
legislation that makes it a crime to deny that the incidents occurred
in 1915 during the Ottoman era were a "genocide. "
"We have received the result we want. We thank everyone who extended
support. Turkish-French relations could not survive such a law. And
we expect a positive ruling from the council," Burcuoglu was quoted
as saying by the semi-official Anatolia news agency.
In France, even if a bill has been approved by the Senate, it can
still be appealed to the Constitutional Court if a large number of
lawmakers file for it.
The French Senate voted last Monday 127 to 86 in favor of the bill
after hours of debate. The bill, yet to be signed by French President
Nicolas Sarkozy, was passed in the French National Assembly, the
lower house of parliament, on Dec. 22 last year.
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.
The two countries signed protocols to normalize relations last
October but the protocols needed to be ratified by the two countries'
parliaments before taking effect. Turkish authorities have warned
that the row over the "genocide" claims could hamper the normalization
process.