BBC News
5 April 2007

‘Genocide’ row threatens pipeline

Turkey has suspended talks with Gaz de France over a key gas pipeline,
in protest at a French bill about the killing of Armenians in World
War I. The planned pipeline would carry natural gas from the Middle
East and Central Asia to Austria through Turkey. The French
Parliament is considering a law that would make it an offence to deny
that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenians. The draft
law was approved by the National Assembly in October. It will be
considered by the Senate next and then return to the lower house
before it becomes law. Turkish denials The 4.6bn euro ($6.1bn;
£3.1bn) Nabucco pipeline project is supposed to reduce the European
Union’s reliance on Russian gas. It also passes through Bulgaria,
Romania and Hungary, which have already reached agreement with Gaz de
France. The Turkish government denies that as many as 1.5 million
Armenians were killed in systematic killings between 1915 and 1917
under the Ottoman Empire. It says that thousands of Turks and
Armenians were killed when Armenians sided with Russian troops
invading the empire, but many countries have since recognised the
killings as genocide. The Nabucco pipeline also passes through
Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, which have already reached agreement
with Gaz de France.

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