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TURKEY SLAMS FRANCE OVER GENOCIDE BILL PASSAGE
By Jack Phillips
The Epoch Times
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/turkey-slams-france-over-genocide-bill-passage-180988.html
Jan 24 2012
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkey
does not recognize the bill recently passed by the French Senate that
criminalizes the denial of the 1915 Armenian genocide.
Erdogan called the measure "racist and discriminatory" and said
Turkey would place sanctions on France "step by step with no retreat,"
according to the France24 television station. The bill, he said, is
"null and void" to the Turkish populace, but "we still have not lost
our hope that it can be corrected."
The bill, which passed with 127 legislators voting in favor and 86
voting against, has not been finalized yet as it still needs French
President Nicolas Sarkozy to sign it into law.
Turkey already suspended military and political ties last December
over the bill. Now Ankara is threatening to make the split with their
NATO ally permanent. Other sanctions have been alluded to but not
spelled out.
"Not having Turkey as a diplomatic partner, especially in the Middle
East, will be felt very strongly by France," Engin Solakoglu from
the Turkish embassy in Paris, told FRANCE 24 on Tuesday.
Turkey recognizes the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in
1915 but does not consider it a genocide. Armenians have said that
at least 1.5 million people were killed, but Turkey says the number
is actually 500,000 and adds that it should be viewed in the context
of World War I.
"Turkey's response to the adoption of the bill had long been decided.
These measures will stay in place as long as the law stays in force,"
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday before the bill was
passed, according to the Hurriyet Daily News.
By Jack Phillips
The Epoch Times
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/turkey-slams-france-over-genocide-bill-passage-180988.html
Jan 24 2012
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkey
does not recognize the bill recently passed by the French Senate that
criminalizes the denial of the 1915 Armenian genocide.
Erdogan called the measure "racist and discriminatory" and said
Turkey would place sanctions on France "step by step with no retreat,"
according to the France24 television station. The bill, he said, is
"null and void" to the Turkish populace, but "we still have not lost
our hope that it can be corrected."
The bill, which passed with 127 legislators voting in favor and 86
voting against, has not been finalized yet as it still needs French
President Nicolas Sarkozy to sign it into law.
Turkey already suspended military and political ties last December
over the bill. Now Ankara is threatening to make the split with their
NATO ally permanent. Other sanctions have been alluded to but not
spelled out.
"Not having Turkey as a diplomatic partner, especially in the Middle
East, will be felt very strongly by France," Engin Solakoglu from
the Turkish embassy in Paris, told FRANCE 24 on Tuesday.
Turkey recognizes the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in
1915 but does not consider it a genocide. Armenians have said that
at least 1.5 million people were killed, but Turkey says the number
is actually 500,000 and adds that it should be viewed in the context
of World War I.
"Turkey's response to the adoption of the bill had long been decided.
These measures will stay in place as long as the law stays in force,"
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday before the bill was
passed, according to the Hurriyet Daily News.