IN WORDS OF TURK MINISTER OF STATE, EU MUST NOT INTERFERE IN ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 10 2006
BRUSSELS, OCTOBER 10, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Turkish Minister
of State and parliamentarian Abdullatif Sener warned the European
Union and other states not to interfere in the Armenian-Turkish
relations. Sener participates in Brussels in the event dedicated to
the Turkey-EU one-year negotiation process.
In the interview to the "Anadolu" agency, he touched upon the
statement made by President of France Jacques Chirac concerning
the Armenian Genocide in which the President insisted on accepting
Turkey’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide as a precondition in
the EU membership process.
On the occasion of the draft being discussed in France, which envisages
5-year imprisonement or 45.000 euro fine for all those who will deny
reality of the Armenian Genocide, the Turk official said: "Such an
attitude is inadmissible. It is against that cultural atmosphere that
the EU attempts to create."
"Armenia is an Asian country, but not a European one. So, it’s a third
country in the process of Turkey’s membership to the EU. It is out
of logic that the draft finds place in the Turkey-EU negotiations
process. Any EU member and not member state that influences on the
policy of Armenia from outside must give up those efforts. Chirac’s
statement was not a sincere one, and their goal is to influence on
the inner policy," Sener mentioned.