‘FRANCE WILL LOSE TURKEY IF SO-CALLED GENOCIDE LAW ADOPTED’
By Bahtiyar Kucuk

Zaman, Turkey
Oct 7 2006

ANKARA – The Turkish Foreign Ministry warned Paris that bilateral
relations would suffer if the French parliament approves a law making
it a punishable offence to deny the so-called Armenian genocide.

Namik Tan, a foreign ministry spokesman, told French officials that
France would, so to speak, lose Turkey.

"The Armenian issue has poisoned bilateral ties in the past, but the
bill will inflict irreparable damage on our relationship, The Turkish
public opinion would perceive the approval of the bill as a hostile
act. Adoption of the bill would mean the elimination of freedom of
expression in France," said Tan.

There’s some considerable volume of business between Turkey and France,
Tan noted adding that French parliament’s recognition of the draft
bill would imperil the outcome of the work for many years to improve
the situation between the two countries.

There’re some initiatives on the part of Turkey to prevent a possible
parliamentary recognition of the draft bill, said Tan, and detailed
those initiatives as follows:

Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer wrote to his French counterpart
Jacques Chirac on 4 Sept. 2006.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to have talks with
French businessmen in Turkey.

Erdogan will have a telephone conversation with French Prime Minister
Philippe Douste Blazy.

A commission of foreign affairs of the Turkish parliament was in
France to voice their concerns.

The Turkish embassy in Paris has held negotiations with French
officials.

While the bill will most likely pass parliamentary approval ahead of
France’s parliamentary elections, French businessmen with investment
plans in Turkey are at unease.

Debate on the bill, which was originally tabled in May, followed
stern warnings from Ankara on the repercussions for bilateral and
economic relations.

Tan: The Armenian issue has poisoned bilateral ties in the past,
but the bill will inflict irreparable damage to our relationship

The Turkish capital warned Paris Friday that political and economic
ties between them will suffer if the French Parliament approves a
highly contentious bill that penalizes any denial of an Armenian
"genocide" at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

"The Armenian issue has poisoned bilateral ties in the past, but the
bill will inflict irreparable damage to our relationship," Foreign
Ministry spokesman Namik Tan told reporters during a regular press
briefing.

The spokesman, with clear remarks, warned the move could jeopardize
"investments, the fruit of years of work, and France will — so to
speak — lose Turkey."

The French National Assembly’s decision for the vote, scheduled for
Oct. 12, came at the request of the main opposition Socialist Party,
the bill’s architect.

Appealing to the assembly to block the bill, Tan argued that adoption
of the bill would mean the elimination of freedom of expression
in France. "Our expectation is that France will avoid taking the
wrong step."

Though the conservative majority in the French assembly opposes the
bill, Turkey fears many opponents will not vote against it for fear of
upsetting France’s 400,000-strong Armenian Diaspora ahead of elections
next year.

Tan said Turkey, too, faces presidential and parliamentary elections
in 2007.

"The people of Turkey will perceive this development as a hostile
attitude on the part of France," he said. "This draft will deliver
a heavy blow to bilateral relations and to the momentum previously
achieved."