The New Anatolian, Turkey
May 13 2006
French President pledges ‘sensitivity’ to Turkish concerns on
Armenian bill
French President Jacques Chirac on Thursday reportedly told Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that France will show sensitivity
to Turkish concerns over a bill threatening prison terms and fines to
people who question the Armenian genocide claims.
Chirac made the remarks during a meeting with Erdogan on the
sidelines of a dinner hosted by Austrian Prime Minister Wolfgang
Schuessel in honor of the participants of the European Union-Latin
American summit held in Vienna.
Although Chirac assured Erdogan that France will take into
consideration Turkish concerns during the debate of the Armenian bill
in the French Parliament set for next week, French socialists
Thursday expressed their insistence on bringing the bill to the
Parliament’s floor despite Parliament’s Law Commission rejecting the
controversial bill.
During Wednesday’s debates at the Law Commission, ruling Union for
Popular Movement (UMP) deputies sharply criticized the bill, drawn up
by a group of socialist deputies. Alain Marsaud and Michel Piron from
the UMP are opposed to the bill, and Piron stressed that trying to
write history with laws would result in a discredited “official
history.” After the debates, the commission made no changes to the
bill and rejected it by a majority.
However, under the French Parliament’s bylaws, the bill is still
going to be debated by the General Assembly next Thursday. The
majority of ruling UMP deputies are opposed to the bill, but if they
don’t participate in next week’s meeting, it’s expected to be
approved by the National Assembly. The UMP has announced that there
will be no group decision on the issue.
Gul warns France on dangers of bill
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul warned France on Friday about danger of
possible approval of the Armenian bill, saying, “Sometimes issues of
domestic politics may hurt the greater interests of the country.”
“I think a country like France will give priority to its interests,”
Gul said.
Telling of the initiatives made by Turkish officials to block
approval of Armenian bill by the French Parliament, Gul said that the
aim of these initiatives is to warn France on time about the dangers
of such a move.
Underlining that recalling Turkish ambassadors from Ottawa and Paris
for consultations doesn’t aim at provoking the public, Gul said,
“This is not an issue of governments, but one of society. Both
non-governmental organization (NGOs) and businessmen warned their
French counterparts that approval of such a bill would harm
relations.”
Erdogan seeks German support for EU bid
Erdogan met on Friday with his German counterpart Angela Merkel on
the sidelines of the summit where he reportedly sought German support
to Turkish bid to join the EU.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Erdogan told reporters that
they also discussed the details and agenda of his upcoming visit to
Germany. “I told Merkel what Turkey can do in the EU accession
process and stated Turkish expectations from Germany in the process,”
Erdogan added.
Turkey’s chief EU negotiator and State Minister Ali Babacan and
Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin also joined Erdogan during
talks with Merkel.
Erdogan during his bilateral talks with United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan discussed the Middle East peace process,
the latest developments in Iraq and possible Turkish contribution to
the democratization of the region.
The Turkish prime minister participated in the opening session of the
summit and posed in a group photo with his European and Latin
American counterparts on Friday before proceeding to Bali, Indonesia
to participate in the Developing-8 Summit.