ISTANBUL: Turkey Pessimist On Halt Of ‘Genocide’ Bill

TURKEY PESSIMIST ON HALT OF ‘GENOCIDE’ BILL

Hurriyet
Jan 26 2012
Turkey

The head of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission voiced pessimism
over the prospect of a court action by French lawmakers to seek the
abolition of the genocide denial law.

Ankara seeks 60 French senators to appeal to the Constitutional
Council to halt the law adopted by the French Senate on Jan. 23
that criminalizes denial of incidents in World War I as Armenian
“genocide.” “I don’t think there could be 60 people [to make the
application] in the current political climate,” Volkan Bozkır,
head of the Foreign Affairs Commission, told reporters yesterday,
according to Anatolia news agency. “I hope I will be wrong and we will
be able to see 60 persons who believe in the friendship of Turkey
and France and respect the values the West was built on.” Foreign
Minister Davutoglu also criticized Nicolas Sarkozy.

The French president was giving a message “not only to Armenian
voters, but also to ultra-rightists who have a phobia of Islam,”
Davutoglu said, adding, “such maneuvers aiming at the ultra-right
voter, radical nationalists and Islamophobic circles are a very
dangerous game, and they threaten European culture.”

Turkey’s sanctions against France will not include any measures
against French-language schools in the country, Education Minister
Omer Dincer said. Meanwhile, Turkish First Lady Hayrunnisa Gul did
not invite France’s Ambassador to Turkey Laurent Bili’s wife to a
lunch organized in the Presidency today as a reaction.