TURKEY UNITES TO OPPOSE FRENCH PLANS FOR ARMENIAN LAW
by: Ingo Bierschwale, dpa
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
October 10, 2006 Tuesday 11:50 AM EST
DPA POLITICS Turkey Politics France Armenia NEWS FEATURE: Turkey
unites to oppose French plans for Armenian law Ingo Bierschwale, dpa
Istanbul On a visit to Ankara at the beginning of the year, French
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy highlighted the interest shown
by French business in investing in Turkey, particularly in the huge
project to construct a nuclear power station at Sinop on the Black Sea.
Now, instead of lucrative contracts, those same companies face a
boycott of their products, and political relations between the two
countries have plumbed a low not seen since that of five years ago.
Then France passed a law in which the murder of thousands of Armenians
in the declining days of the Ottoman Empire was characterized as
"genocide."
The reason for Turkish anger this time is that France may take
a further step with a proposed law that would make it a criminal
offence to deny the genocide that took place 90 years ago.
That anger is being expressed right across Turkish politics, by
business leaders and by consumer associations, ahead of consideration
of the bill by the French National Assembly on Thursday.
Ankara has made clear it will not stand idle. The Turkish government
sees the French move as yet another attempt to sabotage talks about
Turkish accession to the European Union that are in any case bogged
down.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called in French business leaders
over the weekend and demanded that these top representatives of French
companies like Renault and Peugeot, Lafarge, Carrefour and Danone to
use their influence at home.
The Foreign Ministry warned on Monday that if the draft law is
accepted, this would be seen as a "hostile decision" that would have
consequences for economic links between the two countries.
France could expect to be excluded from large-scale projects in
Turkey. And calls for a boycott of French products and even for French
visitors to apply for a visa were being raised.
Turkey is particularly outraged and embittered at what it sees as
double standards in the European Union.
Turkey has to endure harsh criticism that there are limits there
on freedom of expression, while precisely this is what is now being
restricted in France.
With the proposed law France, which has "since the revolution of 1789
been in the vanguard of human rights," is now returning to "the Middle
Ages," in the words of Rifat Hisarciklioglu, president of the Union
of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey.
And even Turkish intellectuals, who have been brought before the
courts in Turkey because of their opinions on the Armenian question,
have come out against the French draft bill.
Hrant Dink, publisher of the Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper Agos,
said that if the proposal was passed, he would travel to France
with the express purpose of "denying the genocide," even though he
is convinced of the opposite and is in fact facing prosecution in
Turkey for this reason.
The French initiative displayed the same "mentality" as that shown
by those in Turkey who strongly reject the allegation that genocide
took place, Dink said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
