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Expatica France
Jan 8 2012
Turkish envoy back in Paris amid row over Armenia genocide
The Turkish ambassador to France, Tahsin Burcuoglu, has returned to
Paris after consultations over French legislation that would outlaw
denial of the Armenian genocide, an official said Sunday.
"The ambassador has finished the consultations for which he was
recalled and returned to France on Saturday," Turkish foreign ministry
spokesman Selcuk Unal told AFP.
Burcuoglu was recalled to Ankara after the French parliament's lower
house approved a bill criminalising denial of the genocide and will
now focus on preventing the bill from being approved by the Senate,
Unal said.
The bill was entered last week onto the agenda of the left-dominated
Senate and is expected to win passage because it is backed by both
sides of the aisle.
Conservative French President Nicolas Sarkozy has championed the
legislation, drawing allegations that he is seeking to woo the half a
million French of Armenian descent ahead of April elections.
French lawmakers voted on December 22 to jail and fine anyone in
France who denies that the 1915 killings of Armenians under the
Ottoman Empire amounted to genocide, prompting Turkey to suspend
political and military cooperation with Paris.
During World War I many Armenians died in Ottoman Turkey. Armenia says
1.5 million were killed in a genocide, a term Turkey rejects, saying
instead that around 500,000 died in fighting after Armenians sided
with Russian invaders.
Turkey has threatened a new round of retaliation if the Senate passes the bill.
http://www.expatica.com/fr/news/french-news/turkish-envoy-back-in-paris-amid-row-over-armenia-genocide_199764.html
Jan 8 2012
Turkish envoy back in Paris amid row over Armenia genocide
The Turkish ambassador to France, Tahsin Burcuoglu, has returned to
Paris after consultations over French legislation that would outlaw
denial of the Armenian genocide, an official said Sunday.
"The ambassador has finished the consultations for which he was
recalled and returned to France on Saturday," Turkish foreign ministry
spokesman Selcuk Unal told AFP.
Burcuoglu was recalled to Ankara after the French parliament's lower
house approved a bill criminalising denial of the genocide and will
now focus on preventing the bill from being approved by the Senate,
Unal said.
The bill was entered last week onto the agenda of the left-dominated
Senate and is expected to win passage because it is backed by both
sides of the aisle.
Conservative French President Nicolas Sarkozy has championed the
legislation, drawing allegations that he is seeking to woo the half a
million French of Armenian descent ahead of April elections.
French lawmakers voted on December 22 to jail and fine anyone in
France who denies that the 1915 killings of Armenians under the
Ottoman Empire amounted to genocide, prompting Turkey to suspend
political and military cooperation with Paris.
During World War I many Armenians died in Ottoman Turkey. Armenia says
1.5 million were killed in a genocide, a term Turkey rejects, saying
instead that around 500,000 died in fighting after Armenians sided
with Russian invaders.
Turkey has threatened a new round of retaliation if the Senate passes the bill.
http://www.expatica.com/fr/news/french-news/turkish-envoy-back-in-paris-amid-row-over-armenia-genocide_199764.html