TURK ACADEMIC RETURNS FRENCH MEDAL OVER GENOCIDE LAW

Reuters, UK
Oct 16 2006

ANKARA, Oct 16 (Reuters) – The man in charge of Turkish higher
education on Monday returned to France a prestigious medal in protest
over a French bill making it a crime to deny Armenian genocide by
Ottoman Turks during World War One.

The gesture by Erdogan Tezic, chairman of the strictly secular body
that oversees Turkish universities, marks the latest Turkish protest
at the French lower house of parliament’s vote in favour of the bill
on Thursday.

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

"Although the draft has not become law, with my letter, I return
one of France’s highest state decorations, ‘Commandeur de la Legion
d’Honneur’… as I won’t be able to wear it as this issue (Armenian
genocide) has become French state policy," Tezic said in a letter to
President Jacques Chirac.

Tezic was awarded the Legion d’Honneur medal in 2004 by Chirac,
becoming the first and only Turk to hold it, the powerful Higher
Education Board said. As former head of the prestigious French-language
university in Istanbul, Tezic received the award for services to
French culture.

The bill still needs approval from the upper house — the Senate —
and the French president, who has indicated he does not support the
proposal. France is home to Europe’s largest Armenian diaspora.