IN SOFIA, FM GUL DISCUSSES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MATTER WITH FRENCH FM

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
source: Hurriyet
May 1 2006

At an unofficial meeting of NATO ministers last week in the Bulgarian
capital of Sofia, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul touched on
the Armenian genocide matter in comments to French Foreign Minister
Philippe Douste-Blazy.

Referring to the drafts of 5 different bills in the French Parliament
which propose jail sentences for people denying the Armenian genocide,
Gul said to Blazy: “You are planning on giving prison sentences to
those who deny the Armenian genocide. But let’s say that either I or
the President of Turkey make an official visit to France, and that at
a press conference there, upon questioning from reporters, we say ‘The
accusations of genocide are lies. They have no ties to reality.’ What
would you do, throw us in prison? Would this suit France, a country
which is one of the champions of freedom of expression and thought
in Europe? So you are essentially giving one side the right to do
whatever they want, while you deny the other side the right to express
its feelings about lies that are being told about it. This perspective
runs contrary to European values.”

Canadian firms not invited to bidding for Sinop reactor

With regards to other countries’ recent stances on the Armenian
genocide, the Canadian government went ahead on April 24 to make
announcements accusing Turkey of genocide against the Armenians.

Following on this, a decision was made in Ankara not to invite Canadian
companies to take part in bidding for contracts in the building of the
nuclear power plant planned for the Black Sea city of Sinop. French
companies are widely considered to be in front running for contracts
connected to the planned Sinop nuclear power plant.