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ISTANBUL: `Genocide' bill may discourage investors

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  • ISTANBUL: `Genocide' bill may discourage investors

    Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
    Dec 30 2011


    `Genocide' bill may discourage investors

    Gökhan Kurtaran - ISTANBUL

    A possible boycott of French firms might slow down investments, says
    Yves Marie Laouenan.

    A possible Turkish boycott of French products and companies would not
    only harm bilateral trade relations but also possibly discourage new
    French investment in Turkey, a top executive of the Turkish French
    Trade Association (CCIFT) said yesterday.
    `We should bear in mind a possible boycott of French products and
    firms in Turkey might also slow down investments from France, the
    second biggest foreign direct investor in Turkey,' said Yves Marie
    Laouenan, vice president of the CCIFT.
    With tensions heating due to the French Parliament's decision last
    week to penalize any denial of the 1915 events as genocide, `trade and
    business relations established over many years should be taken care
    of,' he told the Daily News.
    France ranks the fifth biggest European direct investor in Turkey with
    $10.3 billion worth of investments between 2000 and 2010, following
    the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg,
    respectively, according to data from Turkey's Central Bank.

    French investments in the country were only $1.6 billion in 2000. Even
    in the midst of the European economic crisis, Turkey managed to
    attract $816 million in the first half of this year, the data showed.

    `We do not want to be involved in politics, we want to trade and
    enhance economic relations between both countries,' said Laouenan,
    noting that the French Senate rejected a similar genocide bill in the
    past.

    Laouenan said Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist assassinated
    in 2007, was among the pioneers who put his signature to a letter
    urging French politicians to withdraw from passing such a bill in
    2006. `A similar petition will soon be launched and presented to
    French senators,' Laouenan said.

    `Nearly 100,000 Turkish people work in French firms in Turkey,' said
    Zeynep NecipoÄ?lu, the head of the association calling on both sides to
    calm down and care more about economic relations between the
    countries. Currently, more than 300 French firms operate in Turkey,
    including Schneider, Areva, St Gobain, Lafarge, Danone, L'Oreal,
    Carrefour, Total, BNP Paribas, AXA, Groupama and Dexia.

    `The bill has not been accepted by the French Senate and we will
    continue to express the sensitivity of the issue to French senators,'
    NecipoÄ?lu said.

    Last week, Turkish EU Minister Egemen BaÄ?ıÅ? warned that `Turks decide
    on their own,' implying citizens might boycott French goods as they
    did before against Italy. However, any attempt to boycott trade with
    France would fail to achieve results, Ã`mit Boyner, head of Turkish
    Industry & Business Organization (TÃ`SÄ°AD), said in an interview with
    the Daily News Dec. 28 following the minister's comments.

    December/30/2011

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