TURKEY URGES FRANCE NOT TO APPROVE DRAFT LAW OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

CRI, China
May 10 2006

Turkey has urged French legislators not to approve a draft law
criminalizing denial of Armenian genocide, Foreign Ministry spokesman
Namik Tan said on Wednesday.

“It should not be the desire of anybody to cause uneasiness in a
climate in which our rooted relations were being improved,” Tan told
a weekly news conference.

The French parliament is expected to vote on a bill regarding Armenian
genocide on May 18.

If approved, the bill would provide one year in prison and a fine
of 57,000 U.S. dollars for any person who denies that the 1915-1917
massacres of Armenians were genocide.

On Monday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry recalled its ambassador to
France “for a short time” to have consultations on recent discussions
over the issue in the country.

The spokesman said that the French administration was sensitive on
this issue, stating that the issue required a process in which calm
reactions should be given.

Meanwhile, Turkey warns that ties with France could suffer if the
French parliament adopts the bill.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday held a meeting
with a group of senior directors of French companies doing business
in Turkey, saying that he hoped the group could lobby against the
bill to be voted in the French parliament.

Turkey has rejected claims that 1.5 million Armenians died as a result
of systematic genocide during the Ottoman Empire last century.

The Turkish government has been calling for the formation of a joint
research commission of Turkish and Armenian historians to find out
the truth of the history.