FRENCH PRESIDENT SORRY OVER ADOPTION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

Xinhua General News Service
October 15, 2006 Sunday 6:00 AM EST

French President Jacques Chirac expressed his regret over adoption of a
bill that would make it a crime to deny the alleged Armenian genocide,
Turkey’s semi- official Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday.

Chirac made the regret on Saturday evening over a telephone call
to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying that he was
sorry over the adoption of the Armenian genocide bill in the French
National Assembly.

"I am very sorry over the initiative of the French National Assembly.

I understand your feelings and furthermore I share them, " Chirac
was quoted as saying.

The report said that Chirac noted this was a development pertaining
to the upcoming general elections in France, vowing that he would do
his best to prevent the bill to become a law.

The French president said the adoption of the bill would not affect
Turkey’s negotiations with the European Union (EU), reiterating his
support to Turkey’s EU process.

Erdogan, for his part, briefed Chirac the indignation of the Turkish
people and his government, underscoring that the bill contradicted
freedom of speech principle in the French constitution.

On Thursday, the French National Assembly adopted a bill calling for
up to a year in prison and fines of up to 56,000 U.S. dollars for
anyone who denies the Armenian genocide in the early 20th century.

The bill must be passed by the Senate and signed by French President
Jacques Chirac. However, business and consumer groups in Turkey have
threatened to boycott French products.

Turkey, which is facing increasing pressure from the EU to fully
acknowledge the killings, has always denied that up to 1.5 million
Armenians were subjected to genocide.

But Turkey does acknowledge that up to 300,000 Armenians died during
fighting and efforts to relocate populations away from the war zone
in eastern Turkey.