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TURKEY RECALLS FRANCE ENVOY AFTER 'GENOCIDE' BILL APPROVAL
Today's Zaman
Dec 22 2011
Turkey
Turkey on Thursday recalled its ambassador in Paris hours after
the French National Assembly passed a measure to make it a crime in
France to deny that the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 amounted
to genocide, an earlier announced response to the possible approval
of the bill.
Turkish Ambassador Tahsin Burcuoglu has been recalled to Ankara for
consultations for an indefinite period of time as Engin Solakoglu,
undersecretary of the Turkish Embassy in Paris, also said would happen
last week.
Despite strong protests by Turkey, French lawmakers in the National
Assembly -- the lower house of parliament -- voted overwhelmingly in
favor of the bill, which will now be debated next year in the Senate.
The bill makes denial of the alleged Armenian genocide a crime
punishable by a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros.
The approval of the bill has drawn strong condemnation from both
the Turkish government and the opposition. In an immediate comment
on the approval of the bill, Labor Minister Faruk Celik said he
sees the measure as "pitiful." "They assume that they can change
historical facts with a law. This is a measure which is against all EU
standards, norms and laws. I see this as "pitiful," he told reporters
in Parliament.
The main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) Party Council
(PM) also issued a condemnation over the bill, accusing the French
Assembly of betraying its own history with Thursday's decision. The
CHP said its members will follow the developments regarding the fate
of the bill closely.
From: A. Papazian
Today's Zaman
Dec 22 2011
Turkey
Turkey on Thursday recalled its ambassador in Paris hours after
the French National Assembly passed a measure to make it a crime in
France to deny that the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 amounted
to genocide, an earlier announced response to the possible approval
of the bill.
Turkish Ambassador Tahsin Burcuoglu has been recalled to Ankara for
consultations for an indefinite period of time as Engin Solakoglu,
undersecretary of the Turkish Embassy in Paris, also said would happen
last week.
Despite strong protests by Turkey, French lawmakers in the National
Assembly -- the lower house of parliament -- voted overwhelmingly in
favor of the bill, which will now be debated next year in the Senate.
The bill makes denial of the alleged Armenian genocide a crime
punishable by a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros.
The approval of the bill has drawn strong condemnation from both
the Turkish government and the opposition. In an immediate comment
on the approval of the bill, Labor Minister Faruk Celik said he
sees the measure as "pitiful." "They assume that they can change
historical facts with a law. This is a measure which is against all EU
standards, norms and laws. I see this as "pitiful," he told reporters
in Parliament.
The main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) Party Council
(PM) also issued a condemnation over the bill, accusing the French
Assembly of betraying its own history with Thursday's decision. The
CHP said its members will follow the developments regarding the fate
of the bill closely.
From: A. Papazian