TURKISH ARMY SUSPENDS RELATIONS WITH FRANCE OVER ARMENIAN QUESTION
Agence France Presse — English
November 16, 2006 Thursday 1:03 AM GMT
The Turkish army has suspended its military relations with France
in retaliation for a French parliamentary bill which would make it a
crime to deny that the World War I massacre of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks constituted genocide, the army chief said late Wednesday.
No high-level visits had taken place between the two countries for
that reason, General Ilker Basbug was quoted as telling journalists
at a reception here by the semi-official Anatolia news agency.
Turkey has warned that bilateral ties will suffer a great blow if
France adopts the bill, which foresees one year in jail for anyone
who denies that Armenians were the victims of genocide by Ottoman
Turks between 1915-17.
The bill was approved by the lower house of the French parliament last
month but still needs the approval of the Senate and the president
to take effect.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their people were slaughtered
in orchestrated killings during the last years of the Ottoman Empire,
modern Turkey’s predecessor.
But Turkey rejects the use of the term "genocide", saying some 300,000
Armenians died when the Ottoman Empire fell apart, but at least as
many Turks did too.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
