Mail & Guardian Online, South Africa
Oct 19 2006
Turkey’s Parliament raps France’s ‘genocide’ Bill
Ankara, Turkey
19 October 2006 02:14
Turkey’s Parliament backed on Tuesday a declaration condemning the
French National Assembly’s approval of a draft Bill that would make
it a crime to deny Armenians suffered genocide by Ottoman Turks in
1915.
But the government stopped short of taking measures against French
interests and companies, aware this could harm Turkey’s economy more
than France’s.
Diplomats say the genocide Bill, approved by the lower house last
Thursday, is unlikely to become law due to resistance from the upper
chamber, the Senate and President Jacques Chirac.
Turkish lawmakers said much damage had already been done.
"Naturally, approval of the draft by the French Parliament will
inflict irreparable damage on political, economic and military
relations between Turkey and France," said the declaration which had
the backing of all political parties.
It said Armenia would pay a "heavy price" for using lobbies in France
and in other countries against Turkey, although it did not say what
that might entail.
Turkey has no diplomatic relations with Armenia due to the tiny
ex-Soviet republic’s occupation of territory belonging to Ankara’s
Turkic-speaking ally Azerbaijan.
France is home to Europe’s largest Armenian diaspora.
Ankara denies Armenians’ claims they suffered a systematic genocide
in Turkey during World War I, saying both Christian Armenians and
Muslim Turks died in large numbers in a partisan conflict that
accompanied the breakup of the Ottoman Empire.
In Tuesday’s debate in the Turkish Parliament, Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul said the "baseless" Armenian claims were nothing more
than political propaganda.
"We hope this bill stops halfway and that the French come to their
senses," Gul said.
Gul said the French Bill violated the principle of free speech, a key
requirement of the European Union, which Turkey hopes to join. He
said Ankara would fight the Bill in international courts if it ever
became law in France. – Reuters
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
