The New Anatolian, Turkey
Jan 27 2007

Gul reproves Douste-Blazy on French passage of Armenian bill

The New Anatolian / Paris
27 January 2007

Meeting with his French counterpart in Paris on Thursday, Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul expressed criticisms and concerns about the
French Parliament’s passage of a bill last October to penalize people
who question the Armenian genocide claims.

"France is following the wrong path in relations with Turkey," Gul
told French Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy on the sidelines of the
International Donors Conference held in Paris. "The French
Parliament’s passage of the Armenian bill was in nobody’ interest."

Underlining the damage done to relations between Ankara and Paris by
the passage of the Armenian bill, Gul said, "Relations with France
could have been better."

The French Parliament voted last October in favor of an Armenian bill
that introduces prison terms of up to one year and fines of up to
45,000 euros to those who question the genocide claims. The bill must
be approved by both the other house of the French legislature and the
president in order to become a law.

Foreign Minister Gul also met with U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier
on the sidelines of the conference. While the latest developments in
Iraq and Lebanon and the fight against terrorism dominated Gul’s
talks with Rice, reconstruction efforts and further contributions by
Turkey and Germany to the development of Lebanon dominated Gul’s
talks with Steinmeier.