NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Dec 14 2004
France seeks to impose Armenian condition on Turkey
France has a strong Armenian lobby, which backed a move by the French
parliament to pass a non-binding resolution acknowledging the so
called genocide.
December 14 – France is to make Ankara’s acceptance of the so-called
Armenian genocide of 1915 one of the conditions of Turkey’s bid to
join the European Union.
Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Tuesday that it was not
France’s position that Ankara had to acknowledge the allegations of
committing genocide against the Ottoman empire’s Armenian community
during the years of World War One. His comments were in contrast to a
statement made Monday that Turkey had to accept responsibility for
the events of ninety years ago in order to start accession
negotiations with the EU.
`France does not pose it as a condition, notably not for
opening negotiations,’ Barnier said on French television. `Legally,
that would not be possible.’
Turkey has always strenuously denied that any deliberate
massacre of Armenians occurred, though does acknowledge that many
thousands of Armenian and Turkish Ottoman citizens died during the
turmoil of the war in the east of Turkey.