CHIRAC SAYS SORRY TO TURKEY FOR ARMENIAN BILL

Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand
Oct 16 2006

ANKARA: 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," he told his AK Party, in
broadcast comments, during a dinner on Saturday (local time).

France is home to Europe’s largest Armenian diaspora.

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 1.

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

Erdogan, facing a rise in nationalism ahead of next year’s
parliamentary elections, warned on Friday that Ankara was considering
retaliatory measures against France.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul repeated the government’s call for
France to scrap the bill, which has complicated Turkey’s European
Union accession bid.

AdvertisementAdvertisement"We are worried. Turkish-French relations
have been very deeply wounded. I hope that French politicians and
statesmen will see this and will take the necessary measure to prevent
further damage to France’s credibility," Gul told reporters.

FEAR BACKLASH

French businesses fear the bill will have repercussions for their
business in Turkey, a fast-growing market which imported 4.7 billion
euros’ worth of French goods in 2005.

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

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.

France is believed to be home to the largest Armenian immigrant
community in western Europe, with up to half a million people of
Armenian descent living there.

They make up a powerful political lobby which cannot be overlooked
just seven months ahead of a presidential election.

However, some Turks think French politicians have a broader agenda
and are using the bill to try to block Ankara’s EU bid.

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.

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