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ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL 'BETRAYS HISTORY': TURKISH DEPUTY PM
Agence France Presse
December 22, 2011 Thursday 3:09 PM GMT
A French bill making the denial of Armenian genocide a criminal
offence was a "betrayal of history", Turkish Deputy Prime Minister
Bulent Arinc said Thursday.
"I condemn the French parliament, which passed this bill meaning
betrayal of history and historical truth," Arinc said on his Twitter
account.
"The French parliament... dimmed out history and truth by approving
the bill," he added.
Arinc accused the French lawmakers backing the bill of "bringing back
the Inquisition", and he said the legislation was "evil-minded".
France's lower house of parliament approved the bill, which makes it
a crime to deny that the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians
at the hands of Turkish Ottoman forces amounted to a genocide during
World War I.
Turkey has recalled its ambassador from Paris in protest and about
30 people gathered outside the French consulate in Istanbul after
the French lower house approved the bill.
"We have not committed genocide, we defended the homeland. Wait for
us France, we will come," chanted protesters from the nationalist
Worker's Party.
The draft law will now be considered by the French Senate and
parliamentary committees, and may be enacted early next year, despite
reported concerns from the foreign ministry about damage to France's
ties with Turkey.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was expected to announce
sanctions against Paris later Thursday.
Agence France Presse
December 22, 2011 Thursday 3:09 PM GMT
A French bill making the denial of Armenian genocide a criminal
offence was a "betrayal of history", Turkish Deputy Prime Minister
Bulent Arinc said Thursday.
"I condemn the French parliament, which passed this bill meaning
betrayal of history and historical truth," Arinc said on his Twitter
account.
"The French parliament... dimmed out history and truth by approving
the bill," he added.
Arinc accused the French lawmakers backing the bill of "bringing back
the Inquisition", and he said the legislation was "evil-minded".
France's lower house of parliament approved the bill, which makes it
a crime to deny that the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians
at the hands of Turkish Ottoman forces amounted to a genocide during
World War I.
Turkey has recalled its ambassador from Paris in protest and about
30 people gathered outside the French consulate in Istanbul after
the French lower house approved the bill.
"We have not committed genocide, we defended the homeland. Wait for
us France, we will come," chanted protesters from the nationalist
Worker's Party.
The draft law will now be considered by the French Senate and
parliamentary committees, and may be enacted early next year, despite
reported concerns from the foreign ministry about damage to France's
ties with Turkey.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was expected to announce
sanctions against Paris later Thursday.