France Ditches Genocide Bill; Turkey Lifts All Sanctions

hetq
13:39, July 6, 2012

At a joint press conference yesterday in Paris, the foreign ministers
of Turkey and France said they were entering into a new stage in their
relationship.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said his government would not
resurrect a bill criminalizing the denial of the 1915 Armenian
Genocide that had been approved by both houses of the French
Parliament.

It was rejected by France's Constitutional Court earlier this year on
grounds that it violated freedom of expression.

Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters that his country had removed
all economic and diplomatic measures that Ankara had taken in
response.

France's center-right UMP party had launched the bill last year. The
party is now in the opposition.