GENOCIDE BILL THREATENS TURKISH-FRENCH TIES
By Hande Culpan
Independent Online, South Africa
Oct 10 2006
Turkish-French ties appeared headed for trouble on Tuesday over
a controversial bill on the World War I massacres of Armenians as
Ankara threatened to bar French companies from lucrative projects
and boycott French goods if the draft is adopted.
The bill, scheduled for debate before the French National Assembly
on Thursday, calls for one year in prison and a 45 000 euro (57 000
dollar) fine for anyone who denies that Armenians were the victims of
a genocide under the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey.
Drawn up by the Socialist opposition, the draft was first submitted
in May, but the debate ran out of time after filibustering from the
ruling UMP party bloc.
Turkish officials believe the bill stands a good chance of being voted
on Thursday – as a gesture to France’s large Armenian community ahead
of legislative elections in 2007 – as many lawmakers opposed to the
bill will be away in their constituencies.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul warned at the weekend that French firms
would be barred from major tenders, including one for the planned
construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant, if the bill
is accepted.
"We will be absolutely unable to (co-operate) in big tenders," Gul
told the popular daily Hurriyet.
"The French will lose Turkey," Gul also said in remarks to the Yeni
Safak newspaper.
The Ankara Chamber of Commerce, which groups some 3 200 businesses,
threatened to boycott French goods and the Consumers’ Union, a
non-governmental consumer rights group, joined the chorus on Monday.
Turkey sidelined French companies from public tenders "If the bill
is adopted, we will call for the boycott of one French product every
week starting from October 12. We will increase the number of French
goods and services to be boycotted until the law is annulled," the
group’s leader Bulent Deniz said in a written statement.
In 2001, Turkey sidelined French companies from public tenders and
cancelled projects awarded to French firms when the parliament adopted
a resolution recognising the Armenian massacres as genocide.
At stake now is a flourishing trade between the two countries that
totalled 8,2-billion euros (10-billion dollars) in 2005.
About 250 French firms are active in Turkey, providing employment
for about 65 000 people.
France also plays a leading role in foreign direct investment in
Turkey, with 2,1-billion dollars (1,6-billion euors) in 2005 and
328-million dollars (260-million euros) in the first seven months
of 2006.
Many commentators warned on Monday that ending economic ties with
France would also have a bruising affect on Turkey, which sees foreign
investment as vital to its recovery from two severe financial crises.
"The ‘punishment’ to be imposed on France in case the bill is passed
will be a double-edged sword and inflict as much damage on us as on
France," one columnist wrote in the mass-circulation Hurriyet.
Turkey could also opt for political measures against France, such as
keeping bilateral contacts at a minimum and at the lowest diplomatic
level, and even cancelling bilateral visits.
A senior lawmaker has already warned that the Turkish parliament may
retaliate with a law branding the killings of Algerians under French
colonial rule as genocide and introducing prison terms for those who
deny it.
The Armenian massacres are one of most controversial episodes in
Turkish history and open debate on the issue has only recently begun
in Turkey, often sending nationalist sentiment into frenzy.
Armenians claim up to 1,5-million of their kin were slaughtered in
orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917.
Turkey categorically rejects the genocide label, arguing that 300
000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when
Armenians rose for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with
invading Russian troops as the Ottoman Empire fell apart.