ISTANBUL: Ankara Retains Hope For Nixing French Bill

ANKARA RETAINS HOPE FOR NIXING FRENCH BILL

Hurriyet Daily News
Jan 31 2012
Turkey

There are positive developments on collecting the 60 signatures
required to challenge France’s “genocide” denial law, a Turkish
politician said, although the sufficient number had not yet been
reached.

“There are positive developments on the issue of signatures, but all
is not clear yet,” said Omer Celik, deputy chairman of the Justice
and Development Party (AKP), speaking in a TV broadcast yesterday.

Turkey is currently waiting for the conclusion of the legal process
in France. If the law is adopted Ankara will implement ready-prepared
sanctions against France, Celik said.

On the other hand, the European Union has expressed hope on
reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia despite the current
Franco-Turkish spat.

“The EU supports good neighborly relations between states. We hope
Turkey and Armenia pass over these difficulties,” Jean-Maurice Ripert,
new head of the European Union Delegation to Turkey, told reporters
after meeting with Turkey’s EU Minister Egemen BagıÅ~_ yesterday.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said last week he was disappointed
by the silence of the European Union on the matter. If any candidate
country to the EU had implemented such a law, the union would have
raised the issue, included it in its progress reports, and made its
removal a precondition of entry, he said, adding that Turkey expected
the EU to impose sanctions on France.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also claimed Turkey was keeping
up its efforts for the French senators who objected to the denial
law to apply to the Constitutional Council.

The law passed by the French Senate criminalizes denial of Armenian
genocide allegations.