CHIRAC READY TO HEAR TURKEY ON GENOCIDE

The Peninsula, Qatar
Source : REUTERS
Oct 16 2006

ankara ~U French leader Jacques Chirac has told Turkish Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan he is sorry French lawmakers approved a bill making
it a crime to deny Armenians were victims of genocide at the hands
of Ottoman Turks.

"Chirac called me and told me he was sorry and he said that he is
listening to our statements and he thinks we are right and he will
do what he can in the upcoming process," Erdogan told his ruling AK
Party, in broadcast comments, during a dinner on Saturday evening.

Turkey denies any genocide, saying the Armenians were victims of
a partisan war that also claimed many Muslim Turkish lives. Turkey
accuses Armenians of carrying out massacres while siding with invading
Russian troops during World War I.

The French president’s office did not comment when contacted about
Chirac’s call to Erdogan on Saturday morning.

But immediately after Thursday’s vote, the French Foreign Ministry said
it did not support the lower house bill, calling it "unnecessary and
untimely" and indicating it might never become law as it still needed
to be ratified by both the upper house Senate and French president.

About 100 people protested outside the French consulate in Istanbul
yesterday, throwing eggs at the building.

Many Turks also see the genocide vote as a way for the European
Union to keep Muslim Turkey out of the 25-member club, which Ankara
is negotiating to join.

The European Commission has said that recognition of the genocide
was not a pre-condition for Turkey entering the EU.

But Chirac and the two leading candidates to replace him in polls
due next May – Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal – all say Ankara
must accept the genocide before joining the bloc.

France is home to Europe’s largest Armenian diaspora.

Erdogan warned on Friday that Turkey was considering retaliatory
measures against France.

French firms have said the bill would create repercussions for their
business in Turkey, a fast-growing market which imported 4.7 billion
euros’ worth of French goods in 2005.