Hürriyet, Turkey
Oct 13 2006

Ankara readies itself for response to French decision

Sources in Ankara are reporting that the Turkish response to the
French Parliament’s approval of the controversial "Armenian genocide
denial" bill will be swift and strong.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has announced that the Turkish
Parliament will hold a special session on France on Tuesday, and that
on the agenda will be a number of possibilities, including a freezing
of all bilateral relations with France, putting all French firms
wishing to bid on contracts in Turkey on a "red list," and even
freezing for the time being relations between the Turkish Armed
Forces and their French counterparts.

Terse statement from Prime Ministerial offices

The Prime Ministerial buildings in Ankara yesterday issued the
following stern statement in the wake of news from Paris: "There are
some narrow minded politicians in France who have caused their
country to live with this shame, and who should think about what will
come following this decision."

In Ankara, French Ambassador Paul Poudade said he thought
French-Turkish relations would suffer for a few weeks, and then get
back on track. In a statement to NTV news last night, Ambassador
Poudade said he thought the comments issued from the Turkish Foreign
Ministry were "a little painful, a little sad, but all in all,
measured."