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ISTANBUL: Turkish Ties With France Face Crucial Test On 'Genocide' B

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  • ISTANBUL: Turkish Ties With France Face Crucial Test On 'Genocide' B

    TURKISH TIES WITH FRANCE FACE CRUCIAL TEST ON 'GENOCIDE' BILL

    Hurriyet Daily News
    Jan 23 2012
    Turkey

    Ankara will unveil a raft of new measures against Paris if the French
    Senate approves a bill to criminalize rejection of the 'Armenian
    genocide' today.

    Nearly 40,000 Turks marched in Paris on Jan 21, protesting a draft
    law that will be discussed by the French Senate today. Protesters
    carried Turkish flags and chanted slogans against French President
    Nicolas Sarkozy. AP photo

    Turkey could downgrade its diplomatic ties with Paris and cut
    cooperation in education and culture as part of a second round of
    sanctions against France if the country's Senate approves a bill
    criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide today.

    The French Senate is set to discuss the bill today at 3 p.m. local
    time.

    Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu canceled a trip to Brussels where
    he was supposed to meet with EU foreign ministers to discuss the
    Arab Spring today. "He wanted to stay in Ankara to speedily evaluate
    the voting results of the French Senate and take necessary actions,"
    a diplomatic source said.

    "Relations will never be the same. We have made it very clear that
    they are about to lose the friendship of Turkey," a diplomatic source
    told the Hürriyet Daily News over the weekend, confirming that the
    package of sanctions was almost finalized.

    The Turkish government earlier announced that it had prepared three
    different sets of sanctions against France with each of them to be
    activated in line with the legislation's gradual passage through the
    French parliamentary system. The first package was composed of eight
    measures and mainly focused on military and political cooperation. The
    second, however, will be harsher than the first one, according to
    the diplomats.

    The contentious bill threatens to punish those who deny that the 1915
    events constituted genocide with a year in jail and a 45,000-euro fine.

    French envoy to return home

    The most important measure is expected to include the downgrading of
    diplomatic relations and will likely obligate French Ambassador to
    Turkey Laurent Bili to leave Ankara just a year after he began his term
    if the bill passes. Turkey will also withdraw its ambassador to Paris,
    Tahsin Burcuoğlu, for an indefinite time in a sign that restoring
    ties will take much longer than the French government believes.

    However, a heavier move could be the cancelation of a bilateral
    treaty that helped pave the way for the establishment of Galatasaray
    University in 1992 following a treaty signed between the two
    countries. The move will not change the nature of the education at
    the university, the only institute of higher learning in Turkey whose
    language of instruction is French, but will end any official French
    involvement in academic work.

    Tax audit for French school

    For Bili, there have been harbingers of harsher Turkish measures in
    recent days as Lycée de Charles de Gaulle in Ankara was subjected to a
    tax audit by Turkish state authorities even though the school belongs
    to the French Embassy and is not governed by Turkish regulations.

    "This is an unprecedented move for an embassy school. This school is
    beyond Turkish legislation. It's not a private school either. It's
    a non-profit state school subordinated to French regulations," Bili
    said in an interview with daily Cumhuriyet over the weekend.

    The package, which will be announced immediately after the voting at
    the Senate, is expected to include some more measures but steps in
    the fields of economic and trade are not likely to be on the list.

    At the same time, the government is not expected to discourage boycott
    campaigns against French products by civil society.

    But Bili said an overreaction by Turkey would hurt Turkey's image in
    the eyes of the French people. "While showing reaction, one should
    also think about the future and not cut off all ties."

    Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç described the legislation
    as a move to attract the votes of the Armenian diaspora.

    Addressing French authorities, he asked: "What will you do against
    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan if he denies the Armenian genocide
    while visiting France? There are thousands of Turkish and French
    intellectuals who will take this risk."

    Arınc said he was sure the Senate would reject the bill.

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