TURKEY-FRANCE-ARMENIA: CHIRAC EXPRESSES REGRET
Gareth Cartman

Paris Link, France
Oct 16 2006

Jacques Chirac has expressed his regret to the Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Attempting to re-explain the French position
on the Armenian genocide, Chirac is being forced to backtrack on
comments he made in Yerevan, Armenia.

A telephone call was enough to indicate to Prime Minister Erdogan of
Turkey that Jacques Chirac was not fully in agreement with his own
parliament regarding the passing of the law penalising negation of
the Armenian Genocide by Turks in 1915.

Turkey denies the concept of genocide and continues to contest the
actual number of deaths perpetrated by the Ottoman empire during the
second world war. The Socialist party in France proposed the law
last week in parliament, which passed succesfully without most of
the house voting. The Senate is extremely unlikely to accept the law,
and even if it did, President Chirac would annul it immediately.

Chirac continued to underline that Turkey would have to accept the
Armenian genocide as a pre-condition for entry into the European
Union. Turkey still views Chirac’s line as hostile, although has
called for consumers not to boycott French products.

The Turkish Union of Consumers has also called for a softer line to
be taken against France, although still maintains that some kind of
boycott is essential as an indication of its fury towards France.

Demonstrations continued throughout the weekend against the proposed
law.