Chirac reiterates France will hold referendum on potential entry of
Turkey into EU

.c The Associated Press

PARIS (AP) – President Jacques Chirac reiterated that France will hold
a referendum to decide whether to admit Turkey into the European
Union, if Ankara meets all necessary membership conditions, a French
Armenian group said Tuesday.

In a letter sent to the group Monday, Chirac said he was aware of
their community’s desire “to see the recognition of the Armenian
genocide included on the road map linked to the Turkish candidacy.”

Armenians say some 1.5 million of their people were killed as the
Ottoman Empire forced them from eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1923
in a deliberate campaign of genocide.

However, Turkey denies it was genocide, saying the death count is
inflated and insisting that Armenians were killed or displaced as the
Ottoman Empire tried to secure its border with Russia and stop attacks
by Armenian militants.

France’s parliament has officially recognized the killings as
genocide, and Chirac last year said Turkey would have to agree on that
point if it wanted to become an EU member. He insisted the French
would otherwise vote Turkey out in the referendum, though such a vote
was not likely for at least 10 years.

“It will be up to all the French to express themselves in a
referendum before any membership and thus judge the path taken by
Turkey to share our values,” said the letter to the Coordination of
Armenian Organizations of France.

Without naming Turkey, parliament revised the French constitution in
February to make it obligatory for France to hold a referendum on any
new candidate for the European club.

EU leaders have agreed to start membership talks with Turkey in early
October, but the country still faces serious challenges to its
candidacy.

05/24/05 12:53 EDT