HUNDREDS RALLY IN ISTANBUL AGAINST FRANCE’S ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

Agence France Presse — English
October 14, 2006 Saturday 3:51 PM GMT

Several hundred people rallied outside France’s consulate in Istanbul
on Saturday to protest at the French parliament’s support for a bill
that would make it a crime to deny that Turks committed genocide
against Armenians in the early 20th century.

Riot police stood by in the city centre district of Beyoglu for
demonstrations organised separately by left-wing and right-wing
nationalist parties.

Brandishing Turkish flags, the left-wing nationalists called on Turks
to boycott French products. The right-wingers also accused the Turkish
government of not responding forcibly enough.

The French parliament on Thursday approved on first reading a bill that
would make it a jailable offence to deny that the 1915-17 massacres
of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks constituted genocide.

The bill still needs the approval of the Senate, or upper house of
parliament, and the president to take effect.

Turkey, which strongly rejects the use of the term genocide in the
sensitive Armenian issue, strngly criticised the vote, saying France
had dealt "a heavy blow" to longstanding bilateral relations.

The government has threatened retaliatory measures if the bill
becomes law.