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Latest update: 20/12/2011
- Armenia - France - genocide - Turkey
Turkey urges France to drop Armenian genocide bill
Turkish President Abdullah Gul has warned that a bill due to be examined by the French parliament on Thursday making it illegal to deny the Armenian genocide would severely damage diplomatic and economic ties between the two countries.
AFP - Turkey piled pressure on France Tuesday to drop a proposed law making it illegal to deny the Armenian genocide, warning its adoption will spark a diplomatic crisis and have economic consequences.
The French parliament is to debate the bill, which would see anyone in France who publicly denies the genocide facing a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros ($58,000), on Thursday and is expected to approve it.
Armenia says up to 1.5 million of its people were killed during World War I by forces belonging to Turkey's former Ottoman Empire, a finding Ankara disputes.
As a delegation of Turkish lawmakers and businessmen met with officials in Paris, Turkish President Abdullah Gul urged France to drop the bill.
"It is not possible for us to accept this bill, which denies us the freedom to reject unfair and groundless accusations targeting our country and our nation," Gul said in a statement from Ankara.
"I want to hope that France will not sacrifice centuries-old Turkish-French friendship, common interests and bonds of alliance for small political calculations," Gul said, in a reference to next year's presidential and parliamentary elections in France.
Members of the Turkish delegation, who were to meet with Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and President Nicolas Sarkozy's foreign policy advisor Jean-David Levitte, said they believed the law was an attempt to win support among voters of Armenian origin ahead of the elections.
France has a large population of Armenian descent seen as an important element of Sarkozy's support base as he prepares for a tough re-election battle in April next year.
"Every five years this question comes up ahead of the elections," said delegation member Umit Boyner, chairwoman of the Turkish Industry and Business Association.
"If this law is adopted, there will be a lot of damage and consequences for the two countries," warned Rifat Hisarciklioglu, the head of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, who was leading the delegation of Turkish businessmen.
Turkey has urged France to block the bill, or face "serious and irreparable" consequences for Franco-Turkish relations.
Turkey is an important economic partner for France with about 12 billion euros in trade between the two countries in 2010.
A Turkish government source told AFP on Tuesday that it would impose diplomatic and trade sanctions on Paris if French lawmakers adopted the law.
"Turkey will not remain silent. That will obviously have consequences," the source said. "We have already discussed our plans if the bill is adopted at the French National Assembly on Thursday."
Among the sanctions, Turkey will recall its ambassador to Paris for consultations and ask the French ambassador in Ankara to leave, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Ankara is also planning trade sanctions targeting French interests in the country, though the government has so far avoided openly using the term of "boycott" against French products.
Close to 1,000 French companies in Turkey, as well as those in partnership with Turkish companies, will be excluded from public contracts, especially in the field of transport, according to the source.
The French foreign ministry spokesman, Bernard Valero, however said Turkey was bound by international agreements to not discriminate against French companies.
Turkey "is a member of the World Trade Organisation and is linked to the European Union by a customs union agreement. These two legal commitments require non-discrimination in regards to EU companies," the source said.
Turkey rejects the term genocide and says between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians, and at least as many Turks, died in combat or from starvation when Armenians rose up and sided with invading Russian forces.
Most historians agree that between 500,000 and 1.5 million Armenians died in a series of massacres and deportations from Asia Minor in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 and 1916.
France recognised the killings as genocide in 2001.
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France Armenian genocide bill
Bravo France
turkey has bloody hands and will pay for it.
So called genecide
Will the French now lock-up and fine people for the denial of the so called genecide. Will they realy lock up all the Turks.Waw.
Enough of putting fear into ordinary people.
only Allaha knows the Truth
Through out history many societies and religious groups have been Known to bend the truth about wars and tried poison the minds of there young so the can grow up believing that they have to attack and take revenge on the people that they have been programmed to hate for many years ,AND TELL ME WHO ARE YOUR STORY TELLERS "GODS" no I think THE weaker minded young have grown up to hate the people that stopped them siding with the Russian's for a piece of dirt and wealth, And why are you attempting to silence the many ??? Because you don't like other peoples opinion's to interfere in your attempt's to brain wash today's young.
Don't be zealous...Help your citizons to find their identity...
« OLDER COMMENTS
Please people on this site who are defending their democratic Turkey... Let them help million of Armenians who are turkified and lost their identity Like lawyer Fatheia Cetin ad others Let them treat their tension. I feel lucky that i don't live in Turkey...I don't walk on bones of my ancestries... As Arab poet Al Miar'ri wrote his famous stanza...almost one millennium before As Armenians...We are free where ever we are We are respected, loved, praised They look at honest dedicate talented people...helping every one... So please...If you are good Turkish citizens forget our site and help those who need your help ...urgently Help to return their lost identity ... Help to open their schools...speak their mothers tongue... Help them to pray in their churches which was confiscated by your grandfathers... They don't need money ...they need their identity...They are still orphans... You can never teach us to change our attitudes Because our homes was build on stories of genocide... Every day we heard a new story... Still I hear new ones after almost a century How many Bedouins married Armenian orphans ... They call them Mariam (Mary...Jesus's mother's name) because they were Christians...
See how the Arabs respected Armenians...decades ago...they were non-educated
but they had principles not to hurt their religion, their identity... Even our girls reached Saudi Arabia... And now their grandchildren are proud to say they had Armenian grandmothers... They say they were beautiful dedicated organized and clean...loving kind... Always they tell me "Dr. she looked like You" While you see your president Abdullah Gul refuses to confess that his mother Advia=Adawiya in Arabic (nee Satoglu) is Armenian and he jailed the journalist who wrote the story for 11 months ... Also Erdugan's wife is Kurdish and he kill Kurds...tomorrow his children will be against him...nothing can be hidden under the sky...the sun will rise always... See the deference between Arab Muslims who are proud about having some Armenian genes and the Turks (who are Muslims by name only) and keeps denying their ethnicity, and not only denies, but jails the person who copied the information from an M.P of CHP (Canan Aritman)...and who gave that information was Gul's father-in-law... Differential diagnosis is important not only in medicine but in every subject... to reach conclusion to diagnose and treat...any problem any illness. Turks they don't know how to diagnose their mental problem they keep shouting... stay zealous...they want to sigh with their sick mind...refusing reality... refusing that they carry few criminal genes which should be treated urgently...
Sylva
December 24, 2011
its all about money
Some of the Armenian people need to stop trying to make a fast dollar by useing the blood of there ancestors,Who died in a war long ago,YOU should have a deep look into the history of humanity where larger country's have invaded and conquered rapeing and murdering many of its citizens Iam sure that France has many things that they should be appologizeing for,and the Armenian should apologize to Turkey And its citizens for side with the INVADEING RUSSIAN ARMY,and for killing the young and the old people left in little remote turkish villages .In conclusion HE WHO HAVE NO SIN SHOULD THROW THE FIRST STONE< AND STOP TRYING TO GET RICH ON THE BACK OF THE DEAD>
sarkozy's lie
you are loosing your turkish frends because sarkozy and your government. freedom sald for 100000 ermenian vote,
Stories of Genocide from Our grandmothers who lost their home an
History should be studied by our generation
who heard all stories of genocide from their grandmother lips ...
from their tears ...
Historian only collect stories and copies did they hear true stories ....
Our childhood stories was on genocide not on three bears neither queen and kings...
Sylva-MD-Poetry
France Sarkozy
The historical archives in Armenia,Turkey and Russia to be openned up to the end there must be a big committee of historians should analyse the situation. The war at that moment was between Russians and Turks. East Anatolia was under occupation of Russians. And Turks wanted to get back East Anatolia and Cafkasus. As Armenia historically a partner with Russians in these big war 10 million Turks were died, 8 millions of Russian died and around 2 million Armenians died. But this was a war for East Anatolia between Turks and Russians . Not a war between Armenia and Turks. Still nowadays Turkish and Russian border aggrements contain Armenia. Armenia and Turkey has no border aggrement. Russian troops in Armenia. NATO is Turkey and border is with Russia. not Armenia. On documents there is a region like Armenia but border documents signed by Russia. All the problems of the Armenia are actually Russian politics. Sarkozy is really making big mistake. He doesn't have a right to deceide on these things without Russia and Turkey. It's a mistake.
How to get arrest me.
ı will never accept fake armenian genecide.come and arrest me i live in france.
Great Decision
You cannot wrap a fire with paper, the truth will come out sooner or later. This is an important decision for all HUMAN BEINGS.