Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
May 9 2006

A second message to Paris

source: Hurriyet

In the lead-up to debates on May 18 in the French Parliament over the
draft of a bill which would mandate prison sentences for people
publicly denying Armenian genocide claims, Ankara has called Turkish
Ambassador to Paris, Osman Koruturk, back to the capital “for
consultations.”

Preceding the call-back of Ambassador Koruturk, the Turkish envoy to
the Canadian capital of Ottowa, Ambassador Aydemir Erman, was also
called back to Ankara for consultations, this following the Canadian
government’s decision to use the word “genocide” in reference to
Turkey in a statement issued on April 24. Spokesman for the Foreign
Ministry, Namik Tan, has confirmed the calling back to Ankara of both
Koruturk and Erman. Said Tan, “Our ambassadors have returned to
Ankara for consultations for a brief period in light of certain
recent developments.”

The Turkish ambassadors to Canada and France met yesterday in Ankara
with Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Ali Tuygan, and then with
ambassadors from Canada and France to Ankara. Following the 2001
acceptance by the French Parliament of the Armenian genocide, Ankara
at that time also called back its Ambassador to Paris, Sonmez Koksal,
for consultations. Koksal wound up staying in Ankara for 6 months
before returning. Work is continuing in Ankara to determine what
shape the official reaction from Turkey will take if the French
Parliament does accept the current draft of the bill proposing jail
time for those who deny the Armenian genocide.

Sources in Ankara say that there is a stong possibility that Turkish
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will either write an urgent letter to
French President Jacques Chirac, or that he will call him, in the
lead-up to May 18. It is also expected that Ankara will put a special
focus on the cooperation between Renault and Turkey in its
communication with French officials over the next week. Other sources
say that in the event France does legalize the controversial bill,
France may find itself, like Canada, dis-invited from bidding on
contracts for the nuclear power plant planned for the Black Sea city
of Sinop.