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Turkey Warns France Of Reprisal

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  • Turkey Warns France Of Reprisal

    TURKEY WARNS FRANCE OF REPRISAL
    by NADYA MASIDLOVER

    The Australian
    January 25, 2012 Wednesday
    1 - All-round Country Edition

    TURKEY yesterday vowed to take reprisals against France after
    the French Senate approved a bill making it a crime to deny that
    the massacre of Armenians in 1915 was genocide, further straining
    relations between Paris and Ankara and raising the prospect of a
    significant diplomatic rift between the two North Atlantic Treaty
    Organisation allies.

    The bill, which France's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly
    approved last month, was passed yesterday by a vote of 127 to 86. It
    will require President Nicolas Sarkozy's signature in the next 15
    days in order to become law.

    The proposal is set to make the denial of genocide, crimes against
    humanity and war crimes that are recognised by French law punishable
    by up to a year in prison and a E45,000 ($55,700) fine. The only two
    mass killings recognised by French law as genocide are the killing of
    Armenians during World War I and the Holocaust. Denying the Holocaust
    is already illegal in France.

    The news fuelled outrage in Turkey, which accused France of flouting
    international law and pledged to "take every step"

    to counter the "irresponsible" decision.

    "In case of the completion of the finalisation process for the law,
    we will not hesitate to implement, as we deem appropriate, the measures
    that we have considered in advance," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

    Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was expected to address
    his ruling AK Party early today in Ankara, where he is expected to
    detail his government's response.

    Ankara reacted furiously when the lower house passed the bill last
    month, withdrawing its ambassador from Paris and freezing political
    and military relations.

    Armenia praised the move, stressing that the day would "be written
    in gold in the history of friendship between the Armenian and French
    peoples, but also in the annals of the history of the protection of
    human rights world-wide."

    While many countries recognise the killing of as many as 1.5 million
    Armenians in 1915 as genocide, Turkey contests the scale of the
    losses and says they were casualties of war. It argues the genocide
    issue should be left to historians to decide, rather than legislated
    by governments.

    Relations between the two countries were already frosty, in large part
    due to Mr Sarkozy's vocal opposition to Turkey's bid to join the EU.

    Turkey's government has repeatedly insisted that the bill is
    politically motivated, alleging Mr Sarkozy was trying to win the
    votes of 500,000 ethnic Armenians in France ahead of presidential
    elections in three months.

    Mr Erdogan vowed to never visit France again if the bill was passed,
    while Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the government was ready
    to take new measures against France. Before Mr Sarkozy signs the
    bill into law, it can be challenged if his MPs request a review by
    France's constitutional council. Some MPs argue that the text could
    be regarded as unconstitutional as the Armenian genocide has never
    been recognised by an international or French court. That means the
    law could be considered tantamount to legislating on history.

    Armenians maintain that 1.5 million citizens were systematically killed
    during World War I in today's eastern Turkey, then part of the Ottoman
    Empire. Turkey denies this, saying hundreds of thousands died in war
    and famine, and many Turks were also killed by Armenians.

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