Author: Kalantarian Kevo

TURKEY THREATENS ‘TOTAL RUPTURE’ WITH FRANCE OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

Deutsche Welle
,,15686187,00.html
Jan 24 2012
Germany

Turkey has strongly condemned the French Senate’s approval of a bill
that would outlaw denying mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks
was genocide. Ankara’s ambassador in Paris says he’s ready to pack
his bags.

France’s upper house approved a bill late on Monday making it illegal
to deny that a massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World
War I was genocide, sparking ire from Turkey and praise from Armenia.

The Senate passed the bill – which allows for a potential one-year
prison sentence and a fine of up to 45,000 euros ($57,000) for those
who deny that genocide took place – by a vote of 127 to 86. The bill,
passed last month by France’s lower house, the National Assembly,
must now be signed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy before it can
become law.

Armenia hailed the French Senate vote as a day “written in gold,”
while Turkey lamented “a black day in [France’s] history.”

The bill initially pertained directly to the killing of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks from 1915 to 1917, but was later broadened to include
all genocides recognized by the French government.

‘Permanent’ consequences

NATO allies Turkey, however, have threatened severe diplomatic
fallout if the bill is rubber-stamped by Sarkozy. Ankara has already
temporarily suspended relations with Paris.

“Turkey is committed to taking all necessary steps against this
unjust disposition, which reduces basic human rights to nothing,”
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Turkey’s ambassador in Paris, Tahsin Burcuoglu, said the vote would
lead to a total rupture of relations between the two countries.

“When I say total rupture I include things like I can leave
definitively,” Burcuoglu told reporters. “You can also expect that
now diplomatic relations will be at the level of charges d’affaires,
not ambassadors anymore.”

The Turkish embassy in Paris said France was “in the process of losing
a strategic partner.”

“If the law is adopted by the government, the consequences will be
permanent,” an embassy spokesman said.

Recognition of two genocides

The bill will mean that France will officially recognize two genocides
– that of the Jews at the hands of the Nazis during the Second World
War and the massacre of Armenians in eastern Turkey between 1915
and 1917.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused French
President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is seeking re-election later this year,
of using the law to pander to France’s estimated 400,000 voters of
Armenian origin.

After the lower house vote in December, Turkey suspended all bilateral
cooperation with France and temporarily recalled its ambassador
from Paris.

Author: Mark Hallam, Richard Connor (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters) Editor:
Andrew Bowen

TURKEY THREATENS MORE SANCTIONS OVER FRENCH GENOCIDE LAW
By Nikolaj Nielsen

EU Observer

Jan 24 2012
Belgium

BRUSSELS – French senators on Monday (23 January) voted in a bill to
outlaw denial of the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman
Turks in 1915, prompting strong threats of economic retaliation
from Ankara.

President Nicolas Sarkozy is widely expected to ratify the new measure
in February in a move that Turkey said it would punish with “permanent
sanctions if it is passed to law.”

“This is totally unfair … The historical interpretation of events
cannot be judged by French legislation. No parliament has such a
right nor such a competence,” Turkey’s spokesperson for foreign
affairs Selcuk Unal told EUobserver from Ankara on Tuesday.

Unal declined to comment on details of any future sanctions, adding
that the main issue at stake is freedom of speech and expression.

Anyone caught denying the Armenia genocide, or the Nazi Holocaust,
can face up to one year in prison and a ~@45,000 fine.

The vast majority of France’s lower-house voted in the draft law
last month. The December vote also prompted a stern response from
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who retorted that France
itself committed genocide in Algeria when it wiped out 15 percent of
its population.

Erdogan also claimed the bill is a stunt by Sarkozy to garner support
in the upcoming presidential elections from the 500,000 or so ethnic
Armenians residing in France.

Ankara has since cancelled all economic, political and military
meetings with Paris, reports Reuters. Its ambassador has also left.

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu cancelled a planned trip
to Brussels on Monday. He had been scheduled to meet with EU foreign
ministers over the Iranian oil embargo before heading off to Tehran.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s state-run broadcaster said it plans to suspend its
15.5 percent partnership with Lyon-based Euronews if Sarkozy approves
the bill, Bloomberg news reports. Other French business interests
in Turkey are also under pressure, including car maker Renault and
French bank BNP Paribas. Both have assets worth over ~@20 billion in
the country.

“There will be more sanctions and this time, the sanctions will be
permanent, until the change in French position,” Turkish foreign
minister Ahmet Davutoglu said over the weekend.

Press reports indicate that around 15,000 Turks from around Europe
staged a peaceful protest against the law in Paris on Saturday.

Ankara vehemently denies the genocide charge and claims the new law
is both an affront to freedom of speech and an insult to Turkey.

“Politicisation of the understanding of justice and history through
other people’s past and damaging freedom of expression in a tactless
manner are first and foremost a loss for France,” Turkish authorities
said in a statement released Monday.

FRANCE FACES FEUD WITH TURKEY AS ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’ BILL OK’D

The Seattle Times

Jan 24 2012
WA

Turkey had threatened diplomatic and economic reprisals against
France if the bill, to criminalize the denial of genocide in the
deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians from 1915 to 1917,
was definitively adopted.

PARIS – France and Turkey headed for another diplomatic showdown after
the French Senate on Monday adopted a bill that makes it a crime to
deny that Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks
a century ago.

Turkey has threatened diplomatic and economic reprisals against France
if the bill, which passed the lower house of parliament in December,
was definitively adopted. A majority of 127 senators voted in favor
of the bill after more than seven hours of intense debate. Eighty-six
members voted against. Many senators ducked out of voting on a bill
that was supported by the main parties despite its risk to relations
with a NATO ally.

Under the legislation, people who deny or “outrageously minimize”
genocides recognized by France face a year’s imprisonment and $57,000
in fines.

After Monday’s vote, France now officially recognizes two genocides:
the Nazi Holocaust during World War II and the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of Armenians in eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1917.

The country already has a law punishing Holocaust denial. The text
adopted Monday aims to extend the same sanctions to the Armenian
massacres, which a dozen countries have labeled a genocide.

Several hundred people demonstrated outside the Senate as the sparsely
attended debate got under way. A group of French protesters of Turkish
origin denounced the bill as an attempt to impose a French reading
of history. On the other side of a phalanx of riot police, a group of
Franco-Armenians demonstrated in support of the legislation. “It’s a
fact (that there was genocide). All we want is for Turkey to recognize
that,” an elderly woman told BFM TV.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday warned France that
Turkey had prepared a raft of punitive measures.

Many Turks already feel betrayed by France because of President
Nicolas Sarkozy’s firm opposition to Turkey joining the European Union.

After December’s Assembly vote, Turkey already had suspended bilateral
cooperation and temporarily recalled its ambassador. The Turkish
Embassy in Paris says that this time, diplomatic ties could be
downgraded, and that French firms could find themselves frozen out
of Turkish government contracts.

Armenians say about 1.5 million people were killed or died during
forced marches to the Syrian desert between 1915 and 1917. Turkey
estimates between 300,000 and 500,000 people died but rejects the
genocide label, saying that there was no systematic policy to destroy
the Christian Armenian community. Turkey says that many Muslim Turks
also died in the violence, which took place during World War I.

Erdogan has accused Sarkozy of using the bill, proposed by a member of
the ruling party, to win the support of France’s small but influential
Armenian community before this year’s presidential and parliamentary
elections.

Before becoming president in 2007, Sarkozy – who is expected to seek
re-election in April – promised the Armenian community to push through
legislation banning genocide denial.

TURKEY, FRANCE ON BRINK OF DIPLOMATIC, ECONOMIC “WAR”

Vestnik Kavkaza
Jan 24 2012
Russia

Turkey has spoken out against the French Senate’s passing of a bill
on persecution for denial of Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire
during WWI, Reuters reports.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry called it an “irresponsible” step and
warned it may take measures.

The new law punishes people denying the Armenian Genocide of 1915
with a year of prison or a fine of ~@45,000.

There were 127 votes for the bill and 86 against in the French Senate
(upper chamber).

The French National Assembly (lower chamber) passed the bill on
December 22. 45 out of 577 MPs voted, with 38 for the bill and
7 against.

In response, Turkey froze diplomatic relations with France. Turkish
Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin called the bill unjust and
disrespectful towards Turkey. He added that it has no legal force.

A spokesman of the Turkish ambassador to Paris, Engin Solakoglu,
said that France had lost a strategic partner.

The bill will come into force in 15 days, signed by French President
Nicolas Sarkozy.

The Turkish diplomat warned that Ambassador Tahsin Bursuoglu would
leave Paris as soon as the bill comes into force. He added that Ankara
will take counter measures.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to make a
speech at the parliament, condemning France, and initiate passing of
a list of sanctions.

Turkey threatened Paris on Monday. Erdogan said he would never visit
France again, should the bill be passed. France urged Turkey to remain
calm and called it one of the key partners.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said earlier that Turkey
would consider recognition of the Algerian Genocide by France in 1945.

Ankara does not want to limit itself with diplomatic measures only. It
limited participation of French companies in tenders, stopped exchange
of intelligence information, closed aerospace for French air forces,
banned the French navy from entering Turkish territorial waters,
stopped support of France in international organizations, stopped
giving Paris information on Iran, Syria and the Middle East and
stopped cooperation in science, technologies and culture.

FRENCH SENATE APPROVES CONTROVERSIAL GENOCIDE LAW

RTT News

Jan 24 2012

(RTTNews) – The French Senate on Monday passed a controversial bill
making it a crime to deny officially recognized genocides, including
the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman
Empire. The move has triggered strong objections from Turkey.

The measure, which stipulates a year in jail and a fine of EUR 45,000
on anyone in France denying genocide, was approved 127 votes to 86 in
the Senate. It will now be sent to the French President for signing it
into law, as the Lower House of the Parliament, the National Assembly,
had passed the measure in December.

The bill has evoked strong objections from Turkey, which recalled its
envoy from France and froze ties with Paris after it was passed by
the French National Assembly last month. Ankara had also threatened
then to take further actions against France if the French Senate
passed the measure.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had described the bill
as discriminatory and xenophobic, and announced a set of sanctions
against France.

Erdogan had declared then that Turkey was suspending all economic,
political, military meetings with France in protest. He also said
permission would be denied to all French military planes and warships
to land or dock in Turkey, and added that more punitive actions against
Paris would follow if the measure was cleared by the French Senate.

Soon after the French Senate approved the bill late on Monday, Turkish
Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin condemned the measure and said: “The
decision made by the Senate is a great injustice and shows total lack
of respect for Turkey.”

Meanwhile, the Turkish Embassy in Paris warned that France-Turkey
relations would be permanently damaged if Sarkozy signed the
controversial measure into law. Incidentally, the legislation was
tabled in the Parliament by Sarkozy’s UMP party.

Critics see the move by the UMP party as a political tactic aimed at
gaining the support of some half a million ethnic Armenians living in
France ahead of the upcoming Presidential elections in which Sarkozy
is seeking re-election as UMP candidate.

During a visit to Armenia in October, Sarkozy had urged Turkey to
recognize the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide,
saying: “Turkey, which is a great country, would honor itself by
revisiting its history like other countries in the world have done.”

Armenians claim that at least 1.5 million were killed by the Ottoman
Turks in 1915-16. Nonetheless, Turkey denies the occurrence of any
“genocide” of Armenians, insisting that those killed were victims
of the chaotic times during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and
before the birth of modern Turkey in 1923. However, more than 20
countries have formally recognized the mass killings of Armenians
under the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

Turkey and Armenia have not had any diplomatic or economic relations
after Armenia declared its independence in 1991. In addition, Turkey
also closed its borders with Armenia in 1993 as a token of support
for Azerbaijan, which had a territorial conflict with Armenia.

POLITICIAN: “THIS IS A DEFEAT OF TURKISH DIPLOMACY”

24.01.12

Giro Manoyan, Director of the International Secretariat of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation Bureau in Yerevan, met journalists today and
spoke about the bill of criminalization of Armenian Genocide denial
which was accepted at French Senate yesterday in the night.

“Acceptance of bill of criminalization of Armenian Genocide denial at
French Senate is a political victory for everyone”, Mr. manoyan noted.

According to him this is a French victory first of all as France did
not let Turkish warnings have any influence on the bill.

“This is a victory of the whole Armenians, as due to Turkey this issue
became an Armenian-Turkish struggle in France. This is a defeat of
Turkish diplomacy as this country tried to do everything and raised the
point so much that then fell from a great height”, the speaker said.

After French President Nicolas Sarkozy signs the law it will start
to work and the law will not be ended on this point. According to the
politician other EU countries also may follow French example. “Turkey
confirmed once more that Turkey is unable to face its history.

French-Turkish relations will be frozen as a result of this bill,
but Turkey is unable to press France officially. Turkey is demanded
on French economically so those relations are not easy to destroy”, G.
Manoyan noted.

Remind that on January 23 French Senate accepted bill on
criminalization of Armenian Genocide denial. Now it will be presented
to the French President to sign it. After the bill starts to work
everyone who denies Armenian Genocide in France will be sentenced
with a year and will be fined with 45.000 Euros.

French deputy Valerie Boyer is the author of the bill.

Referring to another theme, meeting of Armenian, Russian and
Azerbaijani Presidents in Sochi, the speaker said: “The trilateral
meeting and joint announcement was just an attempt to create a positive
image, nothing more. There is no real progress in NK issue settlement
process”. According to him mediator countries and especially Russia
want to prevent the war and all efforts are directed to this aim.

NATO DELEGATION HOLDS MEETINGS AT ARMENIA’S MINISTRY OF DEFENSE

Tert.am
24.01.12

A delegation led by Major General Carlos Branco, Director, Cooperation
and Regional Security Division of the International Military Staff,
has been hosted at Armenia’s Ministry of Defense since Jan. 23.

The main aim of the visit is to discuss new initiatives to develop
NATO’s military cooperation with its partner countries.

At its meetings with Armenia’s military official, the NATO delegation
discussed issues related to priorities of military cooperation and
to relevant documents.

Major General Carlos Branco held a meeting with Chief of the Joint
Staff, RA Armed Forces, Colonel-General Yuri Khachaturov. The sides
discussed Armenian peacekeepers’ involvement in international military
cooperation and security operations.

On NATO’s behalf, Major General Carlos Branco expressed gratitude to
Armenia for its contribution to the International Security Assistance
Force (ISAF) – Afghanistan.

At a meeting with the NATO delegation, Armenian Minister of Defense
Seyran Ohanyan briefed the delegation on Armenia’s progress in
reforming its defense system. Minister Ohanyan also informed the NATO
delegation of the current work and of the needs for NATO assistance
in some areas.

The sides also exchanged views on the regional security problems.

Major-General Carlos Branco paid a get-to-know visit to peacekeeping
brigade of the RA Ministry of Defense, Vazgen Sargsyan military school,
and delivered a lecture on the cooperation under the Partnership for
Peace program.

HAUT-KARABAKH: EREVAN ET BAKOU PRETS A RAPPROCHER LEURS POSITIONS (LAVROV)
Dmitri Astakhov

RIA Novosti
23/01/2012

Ilham Aliev, Dmitri Medvedev et Serge Sargsian

Lors d’une rencontre qui s’est tenue lundi a Sotchi avec la
participation du president russe, les chefs d’Etat azerbaïdjanais
et armenien Ilham Aliev et Serge Sargsian ont decide de rapprocher
leurs positions sur le règlement du conflit autour du Haut-Karabakh,
a annonce le ministre russe des Affaires etrangères Sergueï Lavrov.

“Les partis ont constate a l’unanimite que pour realiser des progrès
ulterieurs […] il est indispensable d’abandonner les positions
maximalistes”, a declare M. Lavrov aux journalistes a l’issue de
la rencontre.

Selon lui, MM. Medvedev, Aliev et Sargsian ont evoque “l’ensemble des
questions qui restent entières dans le projet de principes fondamentaux
regissant le règlement du conflit dans le Haut-Karabakh”.

“Les participants a la rencontre se sont declares prets a accelerer la
conception de principes generaux qui serviraient de base a un accord
de paix contraignant”, a souligne le chef de la diplomatie russe.

Il a assure Moscou poursuivrait ses efforts dans le cadre du Groupe
de Minsk de l’OSCE (Russie, France, Etats-Unis) “en vue de rapprocher
les positions des parties au conflit”.

Les presidents armenien et azerbaïdjanais ont demande a la Russie
de jouer un rôle de mediateur dans le retablissement des relations
entre les deux pays, a conclu le chef de la diplomatie russe.

FRANCE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LAW AWAITS SIGNING BY FRENCH PRESIDENT SARKOZYAN AT COST OF TURKISH RETALIATION

National Turk

Jan 24 2012

France Armenian Genocide is strongly condemned byTurkey. Retaliation
will come after French Senate approved the France Armenian Genocide
bill making it a crime denying mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks was genocide.

Ankara / NationalTurk – Relations between France and Turkey, the two
NATO allies are at its lowest and Ankara’s ambassador in Paris states
he’s ready to return to Turkey, after France shamelessly uses poor
Armenian conscience as a cat’s paw for the upcoming France elections
by approving the Armenian Genocide Bill in the Frencg senate.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused French
President Nicolas Sarkozyan, who is seeking re-election in 2012,
of using the law to please to France’s nearly 400,000 voters of
Armenian origin.

France Armenian genocide attrocity : Politics have won over law France
Senate’s upper house approved the genocide bill late on Monday evening,
criminalizing the denial of Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks during
World War I was genocide. The approval of the Genocide bill will be
finalized as a law after French President Sarkozyan signs it.

The dire event is condemned by Turkey whereas it found praise in
Armenia. Armenian people who live in Armenia are not represented by
themselves. The lobbyist Armenian diaspora all over the world decides
for them.

The French Senate passed the bill – which allows for a potential
one-year prison penalty sentence and a fine of up to 45,000 euros for
those who deny that Armenian genocide committed by Turks occurred
in 1915 – by a vote of 127 to 86. Of the 217 members of the senate
213 used legit votes. 107 was the number required so the law could be
passed. The Armenian genocide bill, passed last month by France’s lower
house, the National Assembly, must now be signed by French President
Nicolas Sarkozyan before it can become law, which contradicts with
the 34th ammendment of French constitution. The 34th bylaw of French
Constitution is about freedom of speech and expression.

Sarkozyan licks the boots of Armenian voters

Nicholas Sarkozyan’s Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has also admitted
the Turkey involving France Genocide bill is “untimely” while even
French Senate’s committee chairman, Jean-Pierre Sueur, criticized
the Armenian genocide bill as unconstitutional, stating that it
could be rejected by France’s constitutional court. Sueur claims it
specifically runs counter to constitutional provisions guaranteeing
freedom of speech and academic research. He shoved his protests by
slamming the French MP’s supporting the genocide bill by asking ” Who
and what powers do you exactly you serve? “, hinting at the tastleless
motives behind the dire attempt to alter history for political gains.

Armenia praised and hailed the French Senate’s Genocide vote as a day
“written in gold,” while Turkey lamented “a black day in France’s
history.”

‘Permanent’ consequences in France Turkey Relations after Armenian
Genocide Bill France’s NATO ally Turkey, however, has threatened to
raise the level of severe diplomatic fallouts if the genocide bill
will be signed by Sarkozyan to be finalized as law before French
parliament takes a break at the end of February ahead of the France
presidential election. Ankara administration has already temporarily
suspended all relations with Paris as Turkey’s government has frozen
political and military ties with France. French President Sarkozyan
whose party French UMP (the mainstream right-wing party in France)
supported the France Armenian Genocide bill, needs to sign it into law,
but that is largely considered a formality.

French genocide bill puts Nazis and Turks at same level The Armenian
genocide bill means that France will officially recognize two genocides
of the last century- that of the Jews at the hands of the Nazis during
the Second World War and the killings in eastern Turkey between 1915
and 1917 during World War I.

Turkey : Reactions to France Armenian Genocide Law Approval Turkey
has threatened retaliatory measures against France following a
French senate vote approving a genocide bill that would criminalize
a denial that the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 constituted had
been genocide.

In a written statement following Monday’s vote, Turkey’s foreign
ministry declared: “Turkey strongly condemns this decision which is…

an example of irresponsibility.”

“Politicising the understanding of justice and history through other
people’s past and damaging freedom of expression in a tactless manner
are first and foremost a loss for France.”

Turkey’s justice minister Sadullah Ergin added that the France Genocide
bill was “a great injustice” that showed “a total lack of respect”
for Turkey and human rights.

France Armenian Genocide Law will be ignored by Turkey “Turkey
will never accept such a law, and now everybody will pay a price,
including Turkey, France, and the Armenian communities,” he warned,
as Turkish Prime Minister annonced today at Turkish parliament that
Turkey will ignore the law inacted by France.

“You can expect diplomatic relations will be at the level of charge
d’affaires, not ambassador anymore.” “Turkey is committed to taking
all necessary measures against this unjust disposition, which reduces
basic human rights to nothing,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry announced
in a statement issued later yesterday evening.

The Turkish embassy in Paris declared France was “in the process of
losing a strategic partner.” “If the law is adopted by the French
government, the consequences will be permanent,” an Turkish embassy
spokesman stated.

French politicians suggest Turkey and Turkish government should remain
calm and avoid taking steps which could damage France’s relation with
Turkey, an ally to France they claim hypocritically.

While Turkish government seems to have failed at carrying out a
decent policy at handling the crisis, and becoming nothing more than
a barking dog rather than biting, Turkish historians who are first
historians and not nationalists claim, calling the events in 1915 a
genocide is unjust.

But Turkey has to face its demons and Turkish people, more importantly
younger Turks deserve to know the truth. ” To say and claim that
“There is no Armenian genocide committed by Turks” should be backed up
with proper history and policy. Turks and Armenians need and deserve
to know why 300.000 Armenian people who were living in those lands
before 1915 had to migrate. Migration never occurs without something
forces you to migrate.

AZERBAIJAN REACTS FRENCH DECISION ON ARMENIAN BILL

Jan 24 2012
Turkey

Azerbaijani Presidential Social-Political Office Chairman Ali Hasanov
told AA that the bill was against freedom of thought and human rights.

Azerbaijan reacted the adoption of the bill, which criminalizes the
rejection of Armenian allegations on 1915 incidents, at French Senate.

Azerbaijani Presidential Social-Political Office Chairman Ali Hasanov
told AA that the bill was against freedom of thought and human rights.

The bill harmed the image of France in the world, said Hasanov,
adding that it would also not bring any benefit to France.

Meanwhile, New Azerbaijan Party Secretary General Ali Ahmedov said
that the bill was against democracy, freedom of thought, human rights
and justice principles of France.

Azerbaijani people are now seeing France as an unjust country,
he added.

Melahat Ibrahimkizi, a deputy of Azerbaijani Parliament, said that
France, by adopting the bill, insulted its relations with not only
Turkey but also Azerbaijan.

French Senate on Monday adopted a bill that criminalizes the rejection
of Armenian allegations pertaining to the incidents of 1915.

The bill was adopted by a vote of 127 against 86.

With the adoption of the Armenian bill at the French Senate, the
rejection of Armenian allegations regarding the incidents of 1915
would be penalized with a prison term of one year and a monetary fine
of 45,000 euros in France.