CONSUMERS UNION: OUR ACTIONS AGAINST FRANCE WILL GO ON

The New Anatolian
EkoTurk News Agency / Istanbul
Oct 17 2006

Consumers Union Chair Bulent Deniz said that the boycott undertaken
by the Union against French goods will go on with the addition of a
new French company every week until the decision to outlaw the denial
of the so-called Armenian genocide allegations is withdrawn.

Deniz said in a written statement that the "A French good every week"
boycott initiated on October 13 upon the passing of the law proposal
to outlaw the denial of the so-called Armenian genocide allegations
proved fruitful very soon.

He stated that in a few hours from the onset of the boycott, French
FR2, Arte, Danish DR television channels and German Berlin radio
performed interviews in Turkey to make news stories on the boycott
initiated by the Consumers Union and broadcast them as the leading
stories on their news bulletins. Deniz also said that the call for
boycott had wide-ranging repercussions in the French, Belgian, Dutch,
Austrian, German and American media.

Deniz asserted that the interest that the European media took in the
boycott actions is a primary indicator of the concern caused by the
boycott on the part of the EU and particularly the French public.

"Moreover, according to the information received from the 25 branches
of the Consumers Union nationwide as well as from independent sources,
the sales figures of Total, the first company against which boycott
action was taken, has indicated a drop of up to 30 percent in sales. On
the first day of the boycott, Total shares lost 0.09 percent value
in the stock markets abroad," Deniz said in his statement.

Deniz argued that the most noteworthy development was French President
Chirac calling Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan and saying that he
would do his best to prevent the ratification of the law. All these
developments prove that the Turkish people gave the harshest response
to France, he said.

Deniz informed that the Union will go on with the boycott started
against Total with the addition of a new French company every week
until the decision to criminalize the denial of the so-called Armenian
genocide allegations is withdrawn, and that the second French firm
to be brought under the boycott will be made public on October 19.

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