TURKEY'S OPPOSITION MOBILISES OVER GENOCIDE ROW WITH FRANCE
Focus News
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n268616
Jan 13 2012
Bulgaria
Istanbul. Turkey's main opposition party said Friday it had appealed to
France's socialist leader over French plans for a law that reinforces
the view of Turkey's Ottoman-era massacre of Armenians as genocide,
AFP reported.
In a letter to Francois Hollande, the social democratic Republican
People's Party (CHP) denounced the French bill, which would outlaw
denial that the 1915-17 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces
amounted to genocide.
Hollande is the Socialist Party's contender in the French presidential
elections later this year.
"If the French parliament insists on voting through anti-Turk and
unconstitutional 'laws', it could cause serious damage not just
to France's image but also that of the European Union...," said
the letter.
CHP chief Kemal Kilicdaroglu wrote directly to Hollande amid a growing
diplomatic row between the countries over the bill.
Passing it into law "would provoke an unprecedented crisis" between
the two countries, he wrote.
Copies of the letter also went to other leading socialists including
the president of the Senate, Jean-Pierre Bel.
French senators will debate the bill on January 23 and if passed,
it would go to President Nicolas Sarkozy for approval. France's lower
house, the national assembly, approved the bill last month.
Focus News
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n268616
Jan 13 2012
Bulgaria
Istanbul. Turkey's main opposition party said Friday it had appealed to
France's socialist leader over French plans for a law that reinforces
the view of Turkey's Ottoman-era massacre of Armenians as genocide,
AFP reported.
In a letter to Francois Hollande, the social democratic Republican
People's Party (CHP) denounced the French bill, which would outlaw
denial that the 1915-17 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces
amounted to genocide.
Hollande is the Socialist Party's contender in the French presidential
elections later this year.
"If the French parliament insists on voting through anti-Turk and
unconstitutional 'laws', it could cause serious damage not just
to France's image but also that of the European Union...," said
the letter.
CHP chief Kemal Kilicdaroglu wrote directly to Hollande amid a growing
diplomatic row between the countries over the bill.
Passing it into law "would provoke an unprecedented crisis" between
the two countries, he wrote.
Copies of the letter also went to other leading socialists including
the president of the Senate, Jean-Pierre Bel.
French senators will debate the bill on January 23 and if passed,
it would go to President Nicolas Sarkozy for approval. France's lower
house, the national assembly, approved the bill last month.