Financial Times (London, England)
October 13, 2006 Friday
London Edition 1
Turkey dealt blow over EU
*Ankara angered by French bill on Armenian issue*
Move seen as sign Paris opposes membership
By MARTIN ARNOLD, VINCENT BOLAND, DANIEL DOMBEY and GEORGE PARKER
Turkey’s prospects of joining the European Union took a heavy blow
last night when France’s National Assembly approved a bill which
outraged Ankara and that critics say will set back the cause of
reform within Turkey.
The French legislation, which could still be blocked by the Senate,
would make it a crime to deny that Armenians were the victims of
genocide in the last years of the Ottoman Empire.
The bill was read in Turkey as a sign that France was now permanently
opposed to Ankara’s bid to join the EU.
Bulent Arinc, the parliamentary speaker, criticised France’s "hostile
attitude" towards Turkey. "This is a shameful decision. We are very
sorry to see that this (bill) was passed only because of internal
(French) politics."
Turkey denies genocide, and the judicial authorities have prosecuted
writers who have used the term to describe thekillings of Armenians.
One of the most prominent such figures is Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish
novelist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature yesterday,
minutes after the French vote.
Opinion polls show a majority of French voters oppose Turkish
membership. The issue is sensitive in France because of the country’s
450,000-strong Armenian community, which has grown rich and
influential.
Armenians say as many as 1.5m people died in 1915-18, while Turkey
admits only that hundreds of thousands of both Armenians and Turks
died, largely as a result of civil war and famine.
The bill may never become law, because it must still be approved by
the Senate, France’s upper house of parliament, and signed by
President Jacques Chirac, who is opposed to the initiative and whose
government ultimately controls the agenda of the Senate.
However, yesterday’s vote is likely to bolster the position of
Turkish nationalists.
Anti-EU sentiment in Turkey has risen sharply recently, ahead of a
crucial European Commission report next month that is likely to be
critical of Turkey’s lack of progress over reforms.
Even before yesterday’s vote, many diplomats believed that the EU
membership talks could be formally suspended this year and might
never be revived.
Politicians in Ankara have threatened to retaliate with economic
sanctions and have even toyed with a law making it a crime to deny
that North Africans were massacred by French colonial rulers.
Olli Rehn, the EU enlargement commissioner, has criticised the draft
French law, which he believes could heighten anti-western sentiment
in Turkey and snuff out an emerging debate inside the country about
the events of 1915. "If this law entered into force it would prohibit
debate and dialogue necessary for reconciliation on this issue," said
Mr Rehn’s spokeswoman.
While Mr Chirac favours Turkish accession to the EU, prominent
ministers such as Nicolas Sarkozy are firmly opposed. Segolene Royal,
the Socialists’ leading presidential candidate, has been
non-committal, saying this week she would defer topublic opinion on
the question.
But Mr Chirac said on a visit to Armenia this month that Turkish
recognition of the Armenian genocide should become a pre-condition of
EU membership.
Additional reporting by George Parker in Brussels and Daniel Dombey
in London