Tweet
Vancouver Sun, BC, Canada
Jan 26 2012
Turkey and France in diplomatic rift as Sarkozy courts Armenians in
presidential vote
By Jonathan Manthorpe, Vancouver Sun
Facing rejection by voters in the upcoming presidential election,
French leader Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative party is being accused of
making a crass appeal to the country's 500,000 ethnic Armenians in an
attempt to stave off defeat.
On Monday the French Senate passed by 126 votes to 86 a bill which
will make it a criminal offence to deny that the 1915 deaths of
hundreds of thousands of Armenians as the Ottoman Empire collapsed was
a genocide.
The bill now only needs Sarkozy's signature to become law, which he is
expected to provide by the end of February.
But, as when the bill passed the lower house of the French National
Assembly in December, this week's development has caused a massive
diplomatic rift with Turkey, the modern child of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the French
legislation, which threatens offenders with up to a year in prison and
a fine of up to $57,000, displayed a `racist and discriminatory'
attitude toward Turkey.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, echoing many French political
commentators, said `relations between the republic of Turkey and
France have been sacrificed to considerations of political agenda.'
Turkey has threatened some as yet unspecified sanctions against France
if Sarkozy ratifies the bill.
The mayor of Ankara, the capital, has mused about erecting a memorial
outside the French embassy to the thousands of Algerians killed by
French troops in the 1950s and 1960s as Paris tried to quell an
independence uprising in its North African colony.
But since both countries are members of NATO, there may well be
pressure for a resolution from other members of the alliance.
There are already doubts about the legality of the French legislation.
So it is likely that the necessary 60 lawmakers will request a
reference to the country's highest court, which will then decide on
the bill's constitutionality.
Successive Turkish governments have never denied that in 1915 hundreds
of thousands of Armenians died when the Ottoman Turks deported them
from eastern Anatolia to Syria. The Ottoman Turks, who fought with
Germany in the First World War, claimed the Armenians were pro-Russian
saboteurs preparing to support a czarist invasion.
What the Turks do dispute is the numbers. Armenians say up to 1.5
million of their people died while Turks put the number at between
200,000 and 300,000, adding that many thousands of Turks also died of
disease and starvation in this criminally bungled operation.
Turkey also disputes that what happened was a genocide in the true
meaning of the word, which is defined by the United Nations as a
premeditated campaign `to destroy, in whole or in part, a nation,
ethnic, racial or religious group.'
The survivors of the 1915 atrocities, about 500,000 of them, found new
homes around the world and the diaspora now numbers about seven
million people.
In several countries that are now their homes the Armenians represent
a significant voting bloc. This has aided persistent campaigns by many
of these communities to persuade their governments to recognize the
events of 1915 as a genocide.
Canada, Argentina, Italy, Russia, Belgium and France are among about
20 countries that have formally recognized the Ottoman Turks' action
against the Armenians as a genocide.
But some other countries such as the United States, Britain and Israel
have shied away from using that highly emotive word.
The controversy over the genocide bill comes as Sarkozy's campaign for
re-election in the two-round presidential vote on April 22 and May 6
appears to be in free-fall.
Indeed, in a supposedly off-the-record chat with reporters
accompanying him on a visit to French Guiana on the northeastern coast
of South America on Sunday Sarkozy confessed his fears of defeat.
`For the first time in my life I am faced with the possibility that my
career is coming to an end,' Sarkozy, 56, is quoted as saying.
He was first elected to the presidency with his Union for a Popular
Movement party in 2007, but is trailing the Socialist Party candidate
Francois Hollande in the polls.
The most likely outcome is that Hollande will win on the second ballot
in May when the fistful of smaller party candidates drop off after the
first vote.
But many socialists or left-leaning voters see Hollande as an
uninspiring candidate when they had hoped to be led by Dominique
Strauss-Kahn, whose prospects burned out in a New York hotel room in
May last year.
And Sarkozy is a formidable campaigner who may well be able to claw
back some of his lost support by such niche voter market ploys as the
genocide bill.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Turkey+France+diplomatic+rift+Sarkozy+courts+Armen ians+presidential+vote/6058403/story.html
Jan 26 2012
Turkey and France in diplomatic rift as Sarkozy courts Armenians in
presidential vote
By Jonathan Manthorpe, Vancouver Sun
Facing rejection by voters in the upcoming presidential election,
French leader Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative party is being accused of
making a crass appeal to the country's 500,000 ethnic Armenians in an
attempt to stave off defeat.
On Monday the French Senate passed by 126 votes to 86 a bill which
will make it a criminal offence to deny that the 1915 deaths of
hundreds of thousands of Armenians as the Ottoman Empire collapsed was
a genocide.
The bill now only needs Sarkozy's signature to become law, which he is
expected to provide by the end of February.
But, as when the bill passed the lower house of the French National
Assembly in December, this week's development has caused a massive
diplomatic rift with Turkey, the modern child of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the French
legislation, which threatens offenders with up to a year in prison and
a fine of up to $57,000, displayed a `racist and discriminatory'
attitude toward Turkey.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, echoing many French political
commentators, said `relations between the republic of Turkey and
France have been sacrificed to considerations of political agenda.'
Turkey has threatened some as yet unspecified sanctions against France
if Sarkozy ratifies the bill.
The mayor of Ankara, the capital, has mused about erecting a memorial
outside the French embassy to the thousands of Algerians killed by
French troops in the 1950s and 1960s as Paris tried to quell an
independence uprising in its North African colony.
But since both countries are members of NATO, there may well be
pressure for a resolution from other members of the alliance.
There are already doubts about the legality of the French legislation.
So it is likely that the necessary 60 lawmakers will request a
reference to the country's highest court, which will then decide on
the bill's constitutionality.
Successive Turkish governments have never denied that in 1915 hundreds
of thousands of Armenians died when the Ottoman Turks deported them
from eastern Anatolia to Syria. The Ottoman Turks, who fought with
Germany in the First World War, claimed the Armenians were pro-Russian
saboteurs preparing to support a czarist invasion.
What the Turks do dispute is the numbers. Armenians say up to 1.5
million of their people died while Turks put the number at between
200,000 and 300,000, adding that many thousands of Turks also died of
disease and starvation in this criminally bungled operation.
Turkey also disputes that what happened was a genocide in the true
meaning of the word, which is defined by the United Nations as a
premeditated campaign `to destroy, in whole or in part, a nation,
ethnic, racial or religious group.'
The survivors of the 1915 atrocities, about 500,000 of them, found new
homes around the world and the diaspora now numbers about seven
million people.
In several countries that are now their homes the Armenians represent
a significant voting bloc. This has aided persistent campaigns by many
of these communities to persuade their governments to recognize the
events of 1915 as a genocide.
Canada, Argentina, Italy, Russia, Belgium and France are among about
20 countries that have formally recognized the Ottoman Turks' action
against the Armenians as a genocide.
But some other countries such as the United States, Britain and Israel
have shied away from using that highly emotive word.
The controversy over the genocide bill comes as Sarkozy's campaign for
re-election in the two-round presidential vote on April 22 and May 6
appears to be in free-fall.
Indeed, in a supposedly off-the-record chat with reporters
accompanying him on a visit to French Guiana on the northeastern coast
of South America on Sunday Sarkozy confessed his fears of defeat.
`For the first time in my life I am faced with the possibility that my
career is coming to an end,' Sarkozy, 56, is quoted as saying.
He was first elected to the presidency with his Union for a Popular
Movement party in 2007, but is trailing the Socialist Party candidate
Francois Hollande in the polls.
The most likely outcome is that Hollande will win on the second ballot
in May when the fistful of smaller party candidates drop off after the
first vote.
But many socialists or left-leaning voters see Hollande as an
uninspiring candidate when they had hoped to be led by Dominique
Strauss-Kahn, whose prospects burned out in a New York hotel room in
May last year.
And Sarkozy is a formidable campaigner who may well be able to claw
back some of his lost support by such niche voter market ploys as the
genocide bill.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Turkey+France+diplomatic+rift+Sarkozy+courts+Armen ians+presidential+vote/6058403/story.html