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TURKEY HOPES NUCLEAR PARTNER FRANCE WILL REVIEW ITS STANCE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
16:20 07.05.2013
Ankara is expecting to see Paris weigh its stance on Armenian genocide
more carefully amid improving trade ties, Turkish Energy Minister
Taner Yıldız told reporters Monday in Ankara, Today's Zaman reports.
France's GDF Suez will partner with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Ltd and Itochu Corporation to build Turkey's second nuclear power
plant at an estimated cost of $22 billion under an agreement signed
last week. The consortium will use French nuclear group Areva's
Atmea reactors.
Yıldız's remarks on Monday come on the heels of speculation
in French and Turkish media that the nuclear deal will benefit
the political relations between Paris and Ankara, which have been
strained by the former's recognition of killings of Armenians at the
hands of Ottoman Turks during World War I as genocide. Ankara last
year rejected requests by two French firms to be involved in Turkish
nuclear power projects amid Turkish anger at a French bill making it
illegal to deny that the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks
a century ago was genocide.
Observers argued the French stance on the issue would continue to test
Turkey's patience as the 100th anniversary of 1915 events approaches.
Recalling that the French government is aware of the need to break the
ice in ties with Turkey, Yıldız said he expected the latest energy
deal to serve this end. "We unfortunately failed to bring about a
rapprochement during the [former President Nicolas] Sarkozy term.
...last week's deal is a positive step to see this happen," Yıldız
remarked. The minister said although it is too early to expect
concrete steps from France in this regard, he believed energy matters
in political relations today more than ever before.
Apart from the genocide claims, Turkey also hopes to see France soften
its stance on Ankara's bid to join the EU. Yıldız had earlier said
Turkey would expect gestures from Paris on its EU bid. Prior to the
nuclear deal, the French government agreed in February to the opening
of talks on one of the five negotiating chapters that it has been
blocking since former President Sarkozy's term in office.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/05/07/turkey-hopes-nuclear-partner-france-will-review-its-stance-on-armenian-genocide/
16:20 07.05.2013
Ankara is expecting to see Paris weigh its stance on Armenian genocide
more carefully amid improving trade ties, Turkish Energy Minister
Taner Yıldız told reporters Monday in Ankara, Today's Zaman reports.
France's GDF Suez will partner with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Ltd and Itochu Corporation to build Turkey's second nuclear power
plant at an estimated cost of $22 billion under an agreement signed
last week. The consortium will use French nuclear group Areva's
Atmea reactors.
Yıldız's remarks on Monday come on the heels of speculation
in French and Turkish media that the nuclear deal will benefit
the political relations between Paris and Ankara, which have been
strained by the former's recognition of killings of Armenians at the
hands of Ottoman Turks during World War I as genocide. Ankara last
year rejected requests by two French firms to be involved in Turkish
nuclear power projects amid Turkish anger at a French bill making it
illegal to deny that the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks
a century ago was genocide.
Observers argued the French stance on the issue would continue to test
Turkey's patience as the 100th anniversary of 1915 events approaches.
Recalling that the French government is aware of the need to break the
ice in ties with Turkey, Yıldız said he expected the latest energy
deal to serve this end. "We unfortunately failed to bring about a
rapprochement during the [former President Nicolas] Sarkozy term.
...last week's deal is a positive step to see this happen," Yıldız
remarked. The minister said although it is too early to expect
concrete steps from France in this regard, he believed energy matters
in political relations today more than ever before.
Apart from the genocide claims, Turkey also hopes to see France soften
its stance on Ankara's bid to join the EU. Yıldız had earlier said
Turkey would expect gestures from Paris on its EU bid. Prior to the
nuclear deal, the French government agreed in February to the opening
of talks on one of the five negotiating chapters that it has been
blocking since former President Sarkozy's term in office.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/05/07/turkey-hopes-nuclear-partner-france-will-review-its-stance-on-armenian-genocide/