TURKEY WARNS FRANCE NOT TO MAKE DENIAL OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE A CRIMINAL ACT

Voice of America
May 3 2006

Turkey has warned France that ties between the two countries will
suffer what it called “irreparable damage” if French lawmakers
approve a measure making denial of the Armenian genocide 90 years
ago a criminal offense.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman, Namik Tan, told reporters in
Ankara his country’s views on the issue are being conveyed to French
officials. The proposed bill would provide fines and imprisonment for
denying that Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were victims of genocide
during World War One

If adopted, the bill would follow a 2001 French parliament decision
that the deaths of one and a half million Armenians amounted to
genocide.

That vote infuriated Turkey, which acknowledges the deaths of hundreds
of thousands of Armenians but insists that as many Turks also died
in civil strife and a Russian-backed Armenian uprising against
Ottoman rule.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress