ARINC: "WITH THE ARMENIAN BILL, FRANCE ROUSED TURKISH OPPOSITION AND FAILED THE SINCERITY TEST"
Turkish Press
Oct 18 2006
Speaking yesterday at a press conference marking the beginning of
Parliament’s new legislative year, Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc
said that the whole nation had reacted against the bill criminalizing
denial of the so-called Armenian genocide passed by the French
Parliament last week, adding that France should know that the bill
will hurt it in the future. Asked whether he believed that French
President Jacques Chirac, who recently telephoned Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan to apologize over the bill, was being sincere,
Arinc stated that if a child were asked this question, he would give
the same answer. "The whole Turkish nation gave the same answer to
France," said Arinc. "France has failed the sincerity test." Later,
Arinc flew to Saudi Arabia for an official visit.