Anatolian Times, Turkey
May 14 2006

Turkish Parliamentary Delegation Meets French National Assembly
Speaker

PARIS – A Turkish parliamentary delegation met on Wednesday French
National Assembly Speaker Jean-Louis Debre.
Turkish Parliamentary delegation, comprising Mehmet Dulger and Musa
Sivacioglu from Justice & Development Party (AKP); and Onur Oymen and
Gulsun Bilgehan Toker from the main opposition Republican People`s
Party (CHP), is currently in Paris to lobby for rejection or
withdrawal of the bill which would make “the denial“ of the
so-called Armenian genocide a crime.

Following their meeting with Debre, the Turkish delegation met French
parliament foreign affairs commission chairman Edouard Balladur.

Speaking to A.A correspondent following the meetings, CHP MP Onur
Oymen said, “we have explained the harsh reaction of the Turkish
people. We have attracted the attention to the calls in Turkey to
boycott French goods. We had the opportunity to convey them that
relations would be harmed in case the bill becomes a law.“

Meetings of the Turkish delegation will continue on Thursday.

Turkish parliamentarians will make references to previous statements
of the French executives and historians that the “parliaments can
not write history and the history should be left to historians“ and
want French parliamentarians to be consistent with their previous
statements.

Proposal of the Socialist Party will be discussed on May 18th. The
bill should be approved in the senate in order to become a law.