JOINT CALL FOR FRENCH COMMON SENSE IN ‘GENOCIDE’ STANCE
The New Anatolian, Turkey
Oct 5 2006
The Turkish participants in Turkey-Europe Week in Paris to mark the
anniversary of the start of membership talks on Wednesday called
on France to behave with common sense on the issue of the Armenian
genocide claims.
Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD)
Administrative Council head Omer Sabanci lashed out at France’s
stance, saying that he couldn’t find a link between the European
Union’s push for Turkey to take steps towards freedom of expression
and the French Parliament’s move to discuss the Armenian bill that
limits this freedom. During a speech delivered at the key event,
Sabanci also cited TUSIAD’s call on the Turkish government to abolish
Article 301 of the revised Turkish Penal Code (TCK) that also limits
freedom of expression.
State Minister Kursad Tuzmen also criticized the decision of the
French Parliament to redebate a bill that introduces fines and prison
terms to those who question the Armenian genocide claims on Oct. 12
, saying, "I’m a Turkish minister. When I express my views on the
Armenian genocide claims here in Paris after Oct. 12, will they put
me in prison?"
Stressing that bringing up the Armenian genocide claims as an
obstacle to Turkey’s bid to join the EU is wrong, Tuzmen said,
"Turkish history is not one of hundreds but of thousands of years. We
have never committed a genocide in our history, neither in 1915 nor
at any other time."
Expressing Ankara’s grief over the French move to use an international
issue in domestic politics, Tuzmen reiterated Turkey’s call for the
establishment of a joint commission composed of Armenian and Turkish
historians to study the controversial events.