Zaman, Turkey
May 13 2006
French Deputies Hid from Turkish Delegation
By Ali Ihsan Aydin, Paris
Published: Saturday, May 13, 2006
zaman.com
A delegation from the Turkish Parliament scheduled to meet in Paris
about the parliamentary bill to criminalize denial of the so-called
Armenian genocide could not meet with the bill’s architects.
The Turkish deputies said in a news conference after their three-day
meetings that those who proposed the bill did not want to meet with
them under the pretense of being busy.
Socialist Party (PS) Leader Francois Hollande and Pierre Moscovici,
one of the leading figures of the party and former European Minister,
are among the politicians who prepared the bill.
Though Moscovici told the Turkish delegation that he would not be in
Paris and would be unable meet with them, to the annoyance of the
Turkish delegation, he was seen in the party building in Paris while
Turkish parliamentarians were visiting.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Gulsun
Bilgehan noted that Moscovici said he would be in Brussels. Hollande
defended he genocide law right after the Turkish delegation’s visit
to PS at a meeting at the Foreign Press Center.
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Turkish Parliament,
Mehmet Dulger said the bill, which will be discussed in French
parliament on May 18, is against freedom of speech and human rights.
Dulger noted France should play an intern mediatory role between
Turkey and Armenia to resolve the problem of these countries rather
than trying to increase the tension.
“The bill was accepted as a declaration of war in Turkey and this
will halt Turkey-France relations,” said Bilgehan, “You will visit me
at prison next time with my Legion d’Honneur Medal.”
CHP Deputy Onur Oymen said France, who is supposed to be the defender
of freedom, turned out to be a pro-censorship country. “Do not
sacrifice 70,000,000 Turks for 4,000,000 Armenians,” Oymen said,
adding if the law passes, a British minister, for example, would be
arrested as soon as he comes to France if he denies the so-called
Armenian Genocide, and that the bill exceeds all boundaries.
Turkish deputies asserted that if the bill passes in the Parliament
it will be dissolved by The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The Turkish delegation held a number of meetings on the issue with
many authorities, including Speaker of the French National Parliament
Jean Louis Debre, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP)
Parliamentary Group Chairman Bernard Accoyer, PS Group Leader Jean
Marc Ayrault and Parliamentary Foreign Affairs President Eduard
Balladur.