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HOLLANDE PLEDGES BETTER TIES WITH TURKEY BUT FIRM ON GENOCIDE BILL
Today's Zaman
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-279591-hollande-pledges-better-ties-with-turkey-but-firm-on-genocide-bill.html
May 6 2012
Turkey
Socialist presidential frontrunner Francois Hollande promised on the
eve of French elections that he will mend strained ties with Turkey,
which came to the brink of no return after a draft genocide bill
issued last year penalized the denial of Armenian claims of genocide
at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.
In a letter sent on Friday, two days ahead of the elections, to Paris
Anatolia Cultural Center Chairman Demir Onger, Hollande, who is on
course to win this weekend's presidential runoff against incumbent
President Nicolas Sarkozy, pledged to recreate positive ties with
Turkey, but added that he will redraft the genocide bill to make it
constitutional if elected. He rejected the idea that the genocide bill
targets Turkey or the Turkish community, saying that it only foresees
equal treatment for all crimes of genocide recognized in France.
The genocide bill, drafted first by a member of Sarkozy's Union
for a Popular Movement (UMP) party last October, had been approved
in the French lower house and the French Senate, but was deemed
unconstitutional by the French Constitutional Council in late February
because it ran against the principle of freedom of expression written
into France's founding documents.
The favorite presidential candidate also signaled in the letter that
he will back Turkey's EU bid. Turkey has been an EU candidate since
2004, and its negotiations to fulfill the 35-chapter EU acquis,
which would make Turkey a full member of the organization, are ongoing.
"My view [on Turkey's EU bid] has not changed since 2004. The EU that
agreed to start membership negotiations with Turkey has always been
committed to the principle of gathering different people, cultures
and faiths under its body. Turkey's aspiration to become a full member
proves its willingness to become modernized," Hollande was quoted as
saying in his letter by Turkey's Hurriyet daily.
Speaking to Today's Zaman in a phone interview on Sunday, Onger
assessed Hollande's talk of putting the genocide bill issue back
on the agenda as a negative development for a promised bettering of
Turkish-French relations.
Onger also stated that the letter is the first of its kind, the
addressing of the Turkish community by a French politician. He claimed
that the fact that the favored presidential candidate has addressed
the Turkish community demonstrates the increasing significance of
the Turkish community in the country.
"The Turkish community in France equals a total of 170,000
constituents," Onger said, stressing that Hollande has demonstrated
his acknowledgement of that voting potential by sending the letter.
Today's Zaman
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-279591-hollande-pledges-better-ties-with-turkey-but-firm-on-genocide-bill.html
May 6 2012
Turkey
Socialist presidential frontrunner Francois Hollande promised on the
eve of French elections that he will mend strained ties with Turkey,
which came to the brink of no return after a draft genocide bill
issued last year penalized the denial of Armenian claims of genocide
at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.
In a letter sent on Friday, two days ahead of the elections, to Paris
Anatolia Cultural Center Chairman Demir Onger, Hollande, who is on
course to win this weekend's presidential runoff against incumbent
President Nicolas Sarkozy, pledged to recreate positive ties with
Turkey, but added that he will redraft the genocide bill to make it
constitutional if elected. He rejected the idea that the genocide bill
targets Turkey or the Turkish community, saying that it only foresees
equal treatment for all crimes of genocide recognized in France.
The genocide bill, drafted first by a member of Sarkozy's Union
for a Popular Movement (UMP) party last October, had been approved
in the French lower house and the French Senate, but was deemed
unconstitutional by the French Constitutional Council in late February
because it ran against the principle of freedom of expression written
into France's founding documents.
The favorite presidential candidate also signaled in the letter that
he will back Turkey's EU bid. Turkey has been an EU candidate since
2004, and its negotiations to fulfill the 35-chapter EU acquis,
which would make Turkey a full member of the organization, are ongoing.
"My view [on Turkey's EU bid] has not changed since 2004. The EU that
agreed to start membership negotiations with Turkey has always been
committed to the principle of gathering different people, cultures
and faiths under its body. Turkey's aspiration to become a full member
proves its willingness to become modernized," Hollande was quoted as
saying in his letter by Turkey's Hurriyet daily.
Speaking to Today's Zaman in a phone interview on Sunday, Onger
assessed Hollande's talk of putting the genocide bill issue back
on the agenda as a negative development for a promised bettering of
Turkish-French relations.
Onger also stated that the letter is the first of its kind, the
addressing of the Turkish community by a French politician. He claimed
that the fact that the favored presidential candidate has addressed
the Turkish community demonstrates the increasing significance of
the Turkish community in the country.
"The Turkish community in France equals a total of 170,000
constituents," Onger said, stressing that Hollande has demonstrated
his acknowledgement of that voting potential by sending the letter.