TURKEY THREATENS FRENCH WITH SANCTIONS OVER ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’ LAW

Agence France Presse — English
May 14, 2006 Sunday 1:30 PM GMT

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened France with
trade sanctions if it adopts a bill making it illegal to deny that the
1915-1917 massacre of Armenians in Turkey was “genocide”, a Turkish
newspaper said Sunday.

“Patience has its limits. We do not have hatred (towards France) but
we will impose our sanctions,” the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet quoted
Erdogan as saying at a summit of Muslim countries on the Indonesian
island of Bali.

French lawmakers were due to consider next Thursday a bill from the
opposition Socialists which would make anyone denying the existence
of the “Armenian genocide” liable to a five-year jail term and a
45,000-euro (57,000-dollar) fine.

French MPs should be “particularly sensitive” to the issue of possible
sanctions since France is the number one investor in Turkey, Erdogan
said. “There will possibly be problems,” he added.

France has angered Ankara in the past over the Armenian question. In
2001 it adopted a law recognising the massacres as “genocide”. Turkey
acknowledges that massacres took place, but refuses to class them
as genocide.

Several French businesses were excluded from invitations to tender
in Turkey amid calls there for a boycott of French products following
the 2001 law.

French exports to Turkey in 2001 law plunged by 3.53 billion dollars,
according to Turkish figures. But analysts predict the latest law
could have a far greater impact on trade between the two countries
than the 2001 bill.

Turkey has reached record rates of growth in the past five years and
bilateral trade between the countries in 2005 was worth at least 9.6
billion dollars.

Armenians allege up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in
orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917, while the Ottoman Empire,
modern Turkey’s predecessor, was falling apart.

Turkey rejects the claim, saying 300,000 Armenians and at least as
many Turks died in civil strife when the Armenians started fighting
for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian troops
invading Ottoman soil.

The 430-member Turkish chamber of commerce has intensified appeals
to French leaders including a letter to President Jacques Chirac,
urging them to abandon Thursday’s vote.