TURKEY PRESSURES FRANCE TO PREVENT PRO-GENOCIDE BILL
By Salih Boztas, Ali Ihsan Aydin, Ankara, Paris
Zaman, Turkey
May 10 1006
Turkey is acting to prevent France’s legislative proposal to penalize
those who deny the so-called Armenian genocide.
The Turkish administration briefly recalled its Ambassador to France
this week, Osman Koruturk, who returned to Ankara to offer an official
analysis through diplomatic channels. A group of Turkish deputies
traveled to France to persuade their French counterparts.
Foreign Ministry sources say Koruturk was called to Ankara to discuss
issue, and he will head back to Paris by the weekend.
Turkey is exerting efforts in diplomatic, political and economic
channels against the bill in question.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meeting with business leaders
partnered with French companies yesterday, asked for their support
to obstruct the submission of the motion to the French Parliament on
May 18.
Business executives representing French economic interests in Turkey
said they sent a letter to French President Jacques Chirac and will
do all they can to stop the motion.
Ankara does not expect rocky relations with Paris at this point. No
extreme measures, such as officially withdrawing the Turkish
ambassador, will be resorted to at this stage. However, Turkey will
convey the message that it believes in the “liberalistic environment
of France.”
The motion, proposed by the main opposition Socialist Party in France,
will be discussed today at the French parliamentary Regulations
Commission. Even if the motion passes on May 18, a long process is
required to render it law.
The legislative proposal brings a fine of 45,000 Euros and a prison
sentence to those who deny the so-called Armenian genocide. Trade
unions, labor unions and non-governmental organizations in Turkey
issued a full-page notice in French newspapers asking for the motion’s
withdrawal.
As part of the concerted efforts, the Turkish Parliament Foreign
Affairs Commission went to Paris Tuesday before discussions for the
motion begin.
Turkish Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Commission Chairman Mehmet
Dulger from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and
deputies Musa Sivacioglu, Onur Oymen and Gulsun Bilgehan Toker will
meet with representatives of political parties present at the French
Parliament and ask for the motion to be withdrawn.
The Turkish deputies are expected to warn the French politician
that the motions’ becoming law may lead to irreparable damages in
bilateral relations.
Erdogan: 10 days of hard work await
In the frame of economic efforts, Ankara pointed out Turkey is
an important export point for France and asked for the support of
business circles.
The Prime Minister had a 45-minute meeting with the executives of
French companies operating in Turkey. “This is unfair,” said Erdogan,
“This is the job of historians, we expect support from your business
partners in France; we want them to lobby.”
Twenty-two of 28 companies joined the meeting. TEB-BNP CEO Yavuz
Canevi, one of the participants, said: “We all agree with the Prime
Minister. We have not reached decisions like an embargo yet,” and
Omnium Plastic Industry Chairman Bulent Akman warned, “There will be
much reaction if the motion passes. It will cause trouble both for
the French and us.”