FRANCE RESPONDS TO TURKEY PULLING MILITARY TIES

Men’s News Daily, CA
Nov 16 2006

France offered a low-key reaction to Turkey’s announcement it is
suspending military ties over a recent Armenian genocide vote in the
French parliament.

At the heart of the dispute is the recent approval by French deputies
of legislation making it a crime to deny an Armenian genocide took
place in Turkey a century ago. The bill needs to be passed by the
French Senate and approved by French President Jacques Chirac before
becoming law.

But the matter has sparked anger from Turkey, which denies an Armenian
genocide took place.

Wednesday, a Turkish general announced Ankara had suspended military
ties with France. But a French foreign ministry spokesman says France
has received no official word from Turkey.

French defense officials say they doubt Turkey’s move will
fundamentally hurt diplomatic relations.

But analyst Jean-Francois Daguzin, of the Foundation for Strategic
Research in Paris, believes the impact may be more severe than has
been suggested.

Daguzin says Turkey’s reaction to the French legislation is among
the strongest to date. He says Ankara traditionally makes countries
who fall out of favor pay a steep political price and the suspended
ties could affect military cooperation.

Turkish and French troops are stationed and work together in
Afghanistan, Lebanon, Kosovo, Bosnia and the Democratic Republic of
Congo. In addition, French and European companies supply Ankara with
a significant amount of military equipment.

Recently Turkey’s relations with the European Union have been rocky.

Ankara wants EU membership, but it has yet to fulfill a number of
European conditions for accession talks, including opening trade with
EU member Cyprus.

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