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Zaman, Turkey
March 4 2012
French farmers relieved as thorny genocide bill vetoed
Michel Manoury (Photo: Today's Zaman)
4 March 2012 / EMRE DEMÄ°R , PARÄ°S
When a parliamentary bill that intended to criminalize denying the
killing of Armenians in what is today eastern Turkey in 1915 was
struck down for being unconstitutional, those thrilled were not only
Turks but French farmers engaged in animal husbandry who were equally,
if not more, excited as they feared losing their lucrative trade with
Turkey because of politics.
`We have already experienced difficult days because of the economic
crisis and we were just about to lose one of our biggest [export]
markets due to that bill,' said Michel Manoury, a member of the
farmers' union Coordination Rurale (CR or Rural Coordination) when
Today's Zaman asked how he felt when he first heard about the bill.
The French had already accepted long ago that the killing of Armenians
at the hands of Ottomans almost a hundred years ago was tantamount to
genocide but the western European country's parliament recently
approved another bill to make denying that such a genocide occurred a
criminal offence despite the threat of economic sanctions from Turkey.
The bill came under heavy pressure from human rights organizations
since it was deemed an obstacle to freedom of thought and expression.
It was later overruled by the French Constitutional Council.
Turkey responds to the allegations saying that the killings were not
ordered by the central administration; rather, they were the work of
individuals who were angered by Armenian gangs' killings of Muslim
civilians, in what is today eastern Turkey, while the territory was
under the threat of a Russian invasion. France today sells some 16,000
livestock to Turkey each month and earns some 1.2 billion euros ($1.58
billion) in revenue from those sales to the Turkish market per year. A
number of farmers' unions, including Manoury's CR and the national
cattle association Fédération Nationale Bovine (FNB or National Bovine
Federation) issued statements after it became apparent that the bill
was to be approved by both houses of the French parliament. Turkey's
Ambassador to Paris Tahsin BurcuoÄ?lu confirmed that Turkey's efforts
received the biggest sympathy and support from livestock breeders in
the country. For Manoury, it is very clear that Sarkozy is so
adamantly behind the bill to gain far-right votes as well as the votes
of a few hundred thousand Armenians living in the country. `If the
Turkish government had closed its customs to French cattle imports, we
could have done nothing about it. If the French livestock breeding
sector is not in a crisis, this is thanks to Turkey,' he said. Senator
Nathalie Goulet who recently voted against the bill also confirmed
that French farmers' support for Turkey's cause against the bill. She
told Today's Zaman that their support was one indication of how big
Turkey's economy is and that `France avoided a big mistake [when the
bill was overruled].'
From: Baghdasarian
March 4 2012
French farmers relieved as thorny genocide bill vetoed
Michel Manoury (Photo: Today's Zaman)
4 March 2012 / EMRE DEMÄ°R , PARÄ°S
When a parliamentary bill that intended to criminalize denying the
killing of Armenians in what is today eastern Turkey in 1915 was
struck down for being unconstitutional, those thrilled were not only
Turks but French farmers engaged in animal husbandry who were equally,
if not more, excited as they feared losing their lucrative trade with
Turkey because of politics.
`We have already experienced difficult days because of the economic
crisis and we were just about to lose one of our biggest [export]
markets due to that bill,' said Michel Manoury, a member of the
farmers' union Coordination Rurale (CR or Rural Coordination) when
Today's Zaman asked how he felt when he first heard about the bill.
The French had already accepted long ago that the killing of Armenians
at the hands of Ottomans almost a hundred years ago was tantamount to
genocide but the western European country's parliament recently
approved another bill to make denying that such a genocide occurred a
criminal offence despite the threat of economic sanctions from Turkey.
The bill came under heavy pressure from human rights organizations
since it was deemed an obstacle to freedom of thought and expression.
It was later overruled by the French Constitutional Council.
Turkey responds to the allegations saying that the killings were not
ordered by the central administration; rather, they were the work of
individuals who were angered by Armenian gangs' killings of Muslim
civilians, in what is today eastern Turkey, while the territory was
under the threat of a Russian invasion. France today sells some 16,000
livestock to Turkey each month and earns some 1.2 billion euros ($1.58
billion) in revenue from those sales to the Turkish market per year. A
number of farmers' unions, including Manoury's CR and the national
cattle association Fédération Nationale Bovine (FNB or National Bovine
Federation) issued statements after it became apparent that the bill
was to be approved by both houses of the French parliament. Turkey's
Ambassador to Paris Tahsin BurcuoÄ?lu confirmed that Turkey's efforts
received the biggest sympathy and support from livestock breeders in
the country. For Manoury, it is very clear that Sarkozy is so
adamantly behind the bill to gain far-right votes as well as the votes
of a few hundred thousand Armenians living in the country. `If the
Turkish government had closed its customs to French cattle imports, we
could have done nothing about it. If the French livestock breeding
sector is not in a crisis, this is thanks to Turkey,' he said. Senator
Nathalie Goulet who recently voted against the bill also confirmed
that French farmers' support for Turkey's cause against the bill. She
told Today's Zaman that their support was one indication of how big
Turkey's economy is and that `France avoided a big mistake [when the
bill was overruled].'
From: Baghdasarian