TURKISH PREMIER ASKS FRENCH FIRMS TO HELP DEFEAT GENOCIDE BILL

AP Worldstream
May 09, 2006

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with representatives
of French companies Tuesday and warned them that a French bill
criminalizing denial of Armenian genocide would damage relations
between their countries, the state-owned Anatolia news agency reported.

Erdogan’s spokesman confirmed the meeting took place.

On Monday, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Paris over the proposed
bill, which would make it a crime to deny that the mass killings
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks at the beginning of the 20th century
constituted a genocide.

Turkey says the death toll given by Armenians is inflated and that
Armenians in Turkey were killed in civil unrest _ not genocide _
as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

The French bill was proposed by the opposition socialists and submitted
to the French parliament. It is similar to a law making it a crime
in France to deny the Holocaust of World War II.

Turkey has used economic leverage before to punish France for its
stance on this issue: in 2001, Turkey canceled millions of dollars
worth of defense deals with French companies after lawmakers in France
recognized the killings of Armenians in Turkey as genocide.

Erdogan reportedly told the assembled company representatives in Ankara
that he wanted them to pressure the French government not to enact it.

“We expect executives of French firms to react to the draft law,”
Erdogan was quoted as saying, warning that its passage would negatively
affect relations. Erodogan added that the law was not conducive to
freedom of thought and expression, Anatolia reported.

Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was widely quoted
in the Turkish news media as asking his French counterpart, “Will
you throw me in jail too?” if Gul stated that the killings were not
genocide, which is official Turkish government policy.

The recalling of the ambassador was a strong statement by Turkey,
which faces an uphill battle to win over the French public in hopes
of gaining eventual entrance to the European Union.

Turkey also recalled its ambassador to Canada over the genocide issue,
saying remarks by the Canadian prime minister recognizing the genocide
could seriously harm Turkish-Canadian relations.

Turkey has said it would return both ambassadors after consultations
in Ankara.