Author: Kajoyan Gevork

TURKEY WARNS FRANCE OVER GENOCIDE DRAFT BILL

Voice of America

Dec 20 2011

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has called on France to drop a
parliamentary bill that would make it illegal to deny the 1915 mass
killing of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey was genocide.

Mr Gul issued a strong statement to France Tuesday, saying it was not
possible for Turkey to accept a draft law which denies the freedom
to reject unjust and groundless accusations targeting Turkey.

The lower house of France’s parliament will debate the draft law on
Thursday. If passed, the law would punish genocide denials with a
year in prison and a fine of $58,500.

Armenia says as many as 1.5 million Armenians were murdered by Ottoman
Turks before and during World War One and the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire. Ankara denies the killings constitute genocide. It says the
death toll was exaggerated and the dead were victims of civil war
and unrest.

Turkey has also warned of “grave consequences” to economic and
political relations between the two countries if the law passes.

Turkey says it will recall its Paris ambassador for consultations
and ask the French ambassador to leave Ankara.

President Gul also insinuated that the timing of the draft law is
aimed at winning the votes of Armenian-French citizens in upcoming
elections. Bilateral relations between France and Turkey are already
strained because French President Nicolas Sarkozy opposes Turkey’s
bid to join the European Union.

SARKOZY REFUSES TO TALK TO TURKISH PRESIDENT, DOESN’T PICK UP PHONE
By Armen Hareyan

HULIQ.com

Dec 20 2011
SC

Diplomatic war is raging between Turkey and France over the issue
of the Armenian genocide bill in the French Parliament as Nicolas
Sarkozy refused to answer the phone call by the President of Turkey
Abdullah Gul signaling his support for the Armenian genocide bill.

According to Turkish Hurriyet Daily News “French President Nicolas
Sarkozy refused to talk to the Turkish President Abdullah Gul on the
phone, as the latter attempted to call him to personally to convey
his message over the Armenian ‘genocide’ denial bill to be voted on
Thursday in the French parliament.” Hyrriyet called it an unprecedented
move, which in Turkey is perceived as an act of respectfulness.

The head of the Turkish state Abdullah Gul on Tuesday urged France
to immediately abandon the “unacceptable” bill. He said adoption of
the bill would severely hurt relations between Turkey and France. The
voting is scheduled on Thursday.

Sarkozy has voiced his support for the bill that criminalizes the
denial of the Armenian genocide on French soil. Those who publicly
deny the Armenian genocide will be fined 45,000 Euros and jailed for
one year. Turkey, to do this day has not apologized for what happened
to 1.5 million Armenians between 1915-1921. More than 20 parliaments
in the world have called it an act of genocide.

After Sarkozy’s refusal to answer the phone, the president of Turkey
issued a written statement, slamming the bill. “We have not received
a reply from Sarkozy for the last two days,” one source told Hyrriyet.

“Sarkozy did not have the courage to talk to Gul on the issue.”

Despite diplomatic threats from Turkey, The National Assembly has not
changed its agenda from Turkey and said it will proceed with the vote.

UMP MP Valerie Boyer, who will defend the bill on criminalizing
denial of Armenian genocide on Thursday, today expressed that he
is “shocked by the level of feedback from the Turks.” “Today, the
Turkish practice a diplomacy of threat. It is particularly shocking
and we are amazed by the level of feedback from the Turks,” Boyer,
who is from Sarkozy’s party, told AFP.

He added that the diplomacy of the threat is particularly archaic
and this type of interference can only strengthen the resolve of the
French National Assembly. “This proposal is the culmination of a long
legislative process that began with the recognition of the Armenian
genocide in 2001. We had to go further with the criminalization of
denial of the genocide,” he told the elected, that this decision
French parliamentarians is “inspired by the human rights” and “not
directed against any country.”

Turkey denies the act of genocide, but has admitted that more than
300,000 Armenians were killed in what is today Eastern Turkey during
the years of the first World War. Despite that, Turkey has not rendered
any apology or regret.

The Minister of Relations with Parliament, Patrick Ollier told the
reporters in Paris that he does not understand the Turkish anger.

“Maybe Turkish officials see something that does not please them,”
he told reporters. “But we must explain that this is simply a bill
that aims to punish non-recognition of all genocides whatsoever. It
is not only the problem of the Armenians, he added.

FRANCE-TURKEY:PARIS AND ANKARA AT LOGGERHEADS OVER ARMENIANS

ANSAmed

Dec 20 2011
Italy

Parliament confirms discussion on Thurs. Gul, ‘unacceptable’

(ANSAmed) – PARIS – Tensions between France and Turkey skyrocketed
after a decision was made by the French National Assembly not
to withdraw a bill that criminalising the denial of the Armenian
genocide between 1915 and 1917, despite the discontent expressed by
the government in Ankara. The proposal will be regularly discussed on
Thursday in the French National Assembly, reported French Parliamentary
Relations Minister Patrick Ollier, who specified that the idea of
postponing the vote was not even taken into consideration in today’s
meeting with parliamentary group leaders, which sets the agenda for
the week.

The decision greatly irritated Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who
launched a harsh warning to Paris. “It is not possible for us to
accept this bill (…) which denies the right to reject baseless and
unjust accusations against our country and our nation,” explained Gul,
calling for France to abandon this “unacceptable” law.

The bill establishes a sentence of one year in prison and a fine
of 45,000 euros for denial of the Armenian genocide, which France
recognised in 2001 and which, according to many scholars, caused the
death of 1.5 million people. Turkey has acknowledged that 500,000
people died between 1915 and 1917, but considers these people to be
victims of World War I and not of genocide.

Yesterday two Turkish delegations of MPs and businessmen arrived in
Paris to try to stop the law approving criminalising the denial of
the Armenian genocide from being passed.

Today, Turkish MPs are set to meet with President Sarkozy’s diplomatic
advisor Jean-David Levitte, and the head of French diplomacy, Alain
Juppe. If a crisis were to erupt between France and Turkey it would
come at a difficult time for France, in a regional context in which
Turkey plays an essential role in resolving the situations involving
Iran and Syria. (ANSAmed)

TURKEY CALLS ON FRANCE TO HALT ‘GENOCIDE’ BILL

Jerusalem Post

Dec 20 2011

ANKARA – Turkish President Abdullah Gul called on France on Tuesday
to drop a parliamentary bill making it illegal to deny the 1915 mass
killing of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey was genocide.

Tension has risen between Paris and Ankara in the last week over
a draft law put forward by a member of French President Nicolas
Sarkozy’s party to be debated in parliament on Thursday.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter to Sarkozy
last week warning political and economic relations would suffer
grave consequences if the bill is passed. But it is not clear what
unilateral steps Turkey, a WTO member, can take.

“We ask France to immediately give up the initiative that will
bring it into a position where it is does not respect … freedom of
expression,” Gul said in a statement.

QAJARAN VILLAGERS NOT PREPARING TO SURRENDER FOREFATHERS’ LANDS – ‘NO MATTER THE AMOUNT OF COMPENSATION OFFERED’

epress.am
12.20.2011

Regardless the amount of compensation, no one is preparing to give up
their forefathers’ lands and tombs, said member of the “Save Trchkan
Waterfall” initiative Yeghia Nersisyan, speaking at a press conference
in Yerevan today on the plight of residents of the southern Armenian
village of Qajaran, where a recent government decision has meant
that over 180 hectares of land in Syunik marz (“province”) is now
“priority public interest” land and thereby no longer belongs to
the city but to the state, who plans to sell it to a mining company,
notably the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine (Plant).

“Whilst meeting with us the villagers with great enthusiasm and extreme
vigor were resisting the marzpet, which they’d never done before. Yes,
all the same, the village residents will fight till the end – it’s
just that they need our support. Qajaran must be preserved not only
for its cultural values, but also because the fact of being a border
village forces us to save it. The soldier standing on the border has
bravado when there’s a village behind his back and this is the most
important,” she said.

Recall, on Dec. 16 activists protested the government decision outside
the Armenian government building in Yerevan, during which time they
declared they would be visiting Qajaran (also spelled Kajaran) in
the coming days. Activists insist that mine exploitation will make
the village inhabitable, thereby displacing residents.

“In Qajaran, by coincidence we met [Syunik] marzpet [regional governor]
Suren Khachatryan, who initially greeted us with hostility.

He was accompanied by several cars – with the aim of creating
an atmosphere of fear. Poor man orients himself better in Armenia
Marriott Hotel [referring to an incident in which Khachatryan slapped
entrepreneur Silva Hambardzumyan] than in his own province where he’s
been ruling for decades. The man bearing the noble name of Khachatryan
for a long time was unable to find the road to the village, which he
is so easily preparing to uproot,” said member of the Sardarapat civic
movement Tigran Khzmalyan, who also mentioned the problems resulting
from mining, noting that research conducted by Ecolor indicates more
than the allowable amount of mercury and arsenic have been found in
the hair of the children residing in this village.

According to Khmazlyan, unlike with the marzpet and the Armenian
authorities, Qajaran mayor Rafik Atayan approaches the issue completely
differently.

“He’s smarter than the president of our country and conscious of
more than the prime minister, the marzpets and their people who are
considered to be the political elite. The mayor says they, 100 people,
are keeping a thousand people, while they are offering 100 jobs –
but who’s going to keep those 1,000 people? He also said that in
this state of war how can they empty the village and after all,
who is our soldier going to defend?” said Khzmalyan.

Nersisyan, in turn, said that the marzpet made several threats against
them. “Khachatryan threatened [environmental activist] Mariam Sukhudyan
that ‘be careful, so suddenly something bad doesn’t happen to you’
or that he was preparing to hit me with his fists…”

Nersisyan described the poor state of the village, emphasizing that
a long time has passed since a water pipe at the plant burst and the
entire village was flooded with water which soon froze. Furthermore,
she said, all of the villagers’ appeals to the regional governing
office to deal with this accident have been ignored.

“This also proves that the regional governing office is doing
everything possible to tire the villagers and displace them,” she said.

The speakers asserted that their impressions were more brutal than
they imagined before going to visit Qajaran.

“At the meeting with us, the employees of the Syunik regional
governing office told us that they can’t do anything for land
considered ‘priority, public interest’ land. The villagers clearly
say that they’re not preparing to surrender their lands. They charge
that no one considered their opinion when making this decision. The
aim of our organization is to make these people’s voices heard by and
accessible to all. Soon we will present to the public four-hour long
new and serious videos; we will publish everything which was shot in
recent days in Syunik marz,” said another speaker at today’s press
conference, Ecolor Informational NGO representative Hermine Yenokyan.

TURKEY IS USED TO MAKING MASSACRES – KURDISH MP

news.am
Dec 20 2011
Armenia

ANKARA. – Kurdish MP from Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), presenting
Mush city Sirri Sakik’s statement stirred the Turkish Parliament.

“We are used to the culture of massacres. We perpetrated massacre
towards Armenians, then Jews, and Kurds in 1915,” Sakik stated.

His speech made a stir at the parliament. Other Turkish MPs called
him to take back his words. In response Sakik recommended knowing
the history and facing it.

TURKEY PREPARES SANCTIONS AGAINST FRANCE

Panorama
Dec 20 2011
Armenia

Turkey is intended to apply sanctions against France if the French
Parliament approves the Armenian resolution on December 22, “CnnTurk”
news service informs.

Thus:

Turkey will urge France to call its Ambassador from Tehran back,
otherwise he will be declared persona non grata.

Ankara will reduce its representation in Paris leaving only a secretary
general’s office.

Turkish military envoys to France will be called back; the certificates
of France’s military envoys will be canceled.

French companies will be rejected to appear under hammer.

Turkey’s air space will be blocked against French military jets.

French military worships will be banned to enter Turkey’s waters.

Turkey won’t back France’s policy in international institutions.

No information exchange on Iran, Syria and Middle East.

French Parliament is supposed to pass an Armenian Genocide resolution
that defines denial of genocide a crime.

TURKEY THREATENS TO CEASE CHEMICAL IMPORTS FROM FRANCE

Xinhua General News Service
December 19, 2011 Monday 5:40 PM EST

Turkey threatened on Monday to cease chemical imports from France,
in an attempt to prevent the French side from passing a controversial
bill criminalizing the rejection of Armenian genocide claims.

France’s National Assembly is expected to vote this week on the bill
which recognizes the deaths of Armenians in 1915 as “genocide ” and
stipulates penalties for those who publicly deny the claims. Turkish
officials said last week that if the French bill were to be passed,
Ankara would recall its ambassador in France and freeze the bilateral
ties.

Murat Akyuz, head of the Turkish Chemical Sector Platform (KSP),
said Monday that Turkey’s private sector is uneasy with France using
political issues as a tool against Turkey, and that the chemical
industry is ready to put some “indirect trade sanctions” against
France.

Akyuz said the government did not urge any sector to take action in
this regard, but he added that the private sector is free to take
the initiative to introduce some “indirect sanctions” on France.

“Turkey has a noticeable share of French chemical exports … We
received chemical products worth 1.89 billion dollars from France in
the first 11 months of this year; we are among the top five chemical
importers from that country,” he said.

Chemical imports from France are expected to reach 2 billion dollars
this year. Turkey exported goods worth 8.2 billion dollars to France
last year.

“We have no problem in switching our imports from France to other
countries, such as Italy and Germany in Europe, or Saudi Arabia and
Qatar in the Gulf … We already have good trade relations with these
countries,” Akyuz said.

He called on French politicians “not to let trade relations deteriorate
at the expense of short-term political interests.”

He also called on other businessmen to consider similar ” sanctions”
against the European Union member, adding “We do not have to wait
for the bill to pass the French parliament. If they are determined
to use this card against us, we will not hesitate to respond with
all the tools available to us.”

TURKEY THREATENS FRANCE WITH SANCTIONS OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL
By Philippe Rater

National Post

Dec 20 2011
Canada

PARIS – Turkey piled pressure on France Tuesday to drop a proposed
law making it illegal to deny the Armenian genocide, warning its
adoption will spark a diplomatic crisis and have economic consequences.

The French parliament is to debate the bill, which would see anyone
in France who publicly denies the genocide facing a year in jail and
a fine of US$58,000 (45,000 euros), on Thursday and is expected to
approve it.

Armenia says up to 1.5 million of its people were killed during
World War I by the forces of Turkey’s former Ottoman Empire, a figure
Ankara disputes.

As a delegation of Turkish lawmakers and businessmen met with officials
in Paris, Turkish President Abdullah Gul urged France to drop the bill.

“It is not possible for us to accept this bill, which denies us the
freedom to reject unfair and groundless accusations targeting our
country and our nation,” Gul said in a statement from Ankara.

“I want to hope that France will not sacrifice centuries-old
Turkish-French friendship, common interests and bonds of alliance
for small political calculations,” Gul said, alluding to next year’s
elections in France.

The Turkish delegation met with Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and
President Nicolas Sarkozy’s foreign policy advisor Jean-David Levitte,
arguing the law was an attempt to win support among voters of Armenian
origin ahead.

“Mr. Alain Juppe reminded his guests that Turkey is for France a
friend and ally, with which it has always sought dialogue,” the
foreign ministry said.

Juppe told the Turks that Paris and Ankara have many vital common
interests and argued these were “sufficiently strong to overcome the
challenges that might confront or relationship.”

France has a large population of Armenian descent seen as an
important element of Sarkozy’s support base as he prepares for a
tough re-election battle in April next year.

“Every five years this question comes up ahead of the elections,”
said delegation member Umit Boyner, chairwoman of the Turkish Industry
and Business Association.

“If this law is adopted, there will be a lot of damage and consequences
for the two countries,” warned Rifat Hisarciklioglu, the head of the
Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, who was leading
the delegation of Turkish businessmen.

Turkey has urged France to block the bill, or face “serious and
irreparable” consequences for Franco-Turkish relations.

Turkey is an important economic partner for France with about 12
billion euros in trade between the two countries in 2010.

A Turkish government source told AFP on Tuesday that it would impose
diplomatic and trade sanctions on Paris if French lawmakers adopt
the law.

“Turkey will not remain silent. That will obviously have consequences,”
the source said. “We have already discussed our plans if the bill is
adopted at the French National Assembly on Thursday.”

Among the sanctions, Turkey will recall its ambassador to Paris
for consultations and ask the French ambassador in Ankara to leave,
the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Ankara is also planning trade sanctions targeting French interests
in the country, though the government has so far avoided openly using
the term of “boycott” against French products.

Close to 1,000 French companies in Turkey, as well as those in
partnership with Turkish companies, will be excluded from public
contracts, especially in the field of transport, according to the
source.

The French foreign ministry spokesman, Bernard Valero, however said
Turkey was bound by international agreements to not discriminate
against French companies.

Turkey “is a member of the World Trade Organization and is linked
to the European Union by a customs union agreement. These two legal
commitments require non-discrimination in regards to EU companies,”
the source said.

Turkey rejects the term genocide and says between 300,000 and
500,000 Armenians, and at least as many Turks, died in combat or
from starvation when Armenians rose up and sided with invading
Russian forces.

Most historians agree that between 500,000 and 1.5 million Armenians
died in a series of massacres and deportations from Asia Minor in
the Ottoman Empire in 1915 and 1916.

France recognized the killings as genocide in 2001.

TIME TO SETTLE KARABAKH CONFLICT – FRENCH MEDIATOR

news.az
Dec 19 2011
Azerbaijan

Outgoing French mediator Bernard Fassier has called for greater
urgency in the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh. The settlement process should be accelerated to
improve the situation, Fassier said in Baku.

“You can see what is happening today in the Middle East. The
protraction of conflicts complicates their resolution,” he said,
according to ANS PRESS.

The diplomat said that the time has come to settle the Karabakh
conflict.

“The South Caucasus is a long way from Europe. Today, Europe is
facing more important issues, such as the future of the EU and euro
and searching for ways out of the world economic crisis.”

Bernard Fassier arrived in Baku on 18 December. He is making a
farewell visit in his capacity as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group,
the international body mediating a settlement to the Karabakh conflict.

He will be replaced as the French co-chair of the Minsk Group by
Jacques Faure, the current French ambassador to Ukraine.