FRANCE STAGING CONFERENCE ON MINORITIES IN TURKEY

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Nov 21 2006

The conference is likely to set a jarring chord in Turkey, which
recently voiced its disquiet at the lower house of the French
parliament approving legislation that would make it a criminal offence
to deny the so-called Armenian genocide.

Guncelleme: 14:11 TSİ 21 Kasim 2006 SaliPARIS – France will hold
a conference in Versailles on minorities Turkey on November 25 as a
part of activities marking "the Armenian year".

The theme of the conference focuses on the past and future of the
Armenians, Syriac-Keldani, Greeks and Kurdish minorities and has
been referred to as a joint activity of those destroyed or oppressed
by Turkey.

Some administrators from minority associations and academics will be
participating in the conference.

France had declared September 2006 to July 2007 as the Armenian year,
a step that has been described as a move to win votes of the about
500,000 Armenian’s living in France ahead of the French Presidential
elections in 2007.