TURKISH MPS WARNS FRANCE AGAINST ARMENIAN BILL

Anatolia news agency, Ankara,
4 Oct 06

Paris, 4 October: "If the French Socialist Party's draft law, on
making a denial of the so-called Armenian genocide a crime in France,
is adopted, this would harm Turkish-French relations," said Mehmet
Dulger, a deputy from the [ruling] Justice and Development Party
(AKP) and chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Commission,
in Paris today.

The Turkish parliamentary delegation held talks in Paris and lobbied
against the draft law that makes denial of so-called Armenian genocide
a crime in France.

In a press briefing at the Turkish embassy in Paris, Dulger stressed
that "French economic interests in Turkey will get (negatively)
affected if the draft law is accepted".

Deputy leader of the [opposition] Turkish Republican People's Party
(CHP) Onur Oymen indicated that the draft law in the French parliament
is against the freedom of expression of ideas and the European Human
Rights Treaty.

"No one can take away the right to freely express that Turkish
ancestors did not kill Armenians," said Oymen.

The draft law will be voted on in the French parliament's general
assembly on 12 October. The French Senate must also approve the
draft law for it to go into effect. The draft law makes any denial of
so-called Armenian genocide a crime to be punishable with one year's
jail term or a fine of 45,000 euro.

The Turkish delegation departed from Paris and is heading to Turkey.