Author: Kalantarian Kevo

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.

TODAY, TURKEY TO DECLARE PUNISHMENT FOR FRANCE

Azerbaijan Business Center
Jan 24 2012

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. Hopes for a common sense of the French Senate
failed as the belief in a flat earth.

Yesterday by 127 votes “for” with 86 votes “against” the French Senate
approved a bill criminalizing denial of Armenian genocide in 1915-17 in
the Ottoman Empire. Now French President Nicolas Sarkozy has 15 days
to sign the bill. Given the Sarkozy’s statements and the fact that
the bill was introduced by his party “Union for a Popular Movement,”
the approval of the law can hardly be doubted.

Already today, Turkey, as a successor to the Ottoman Empire, will
announce its official response to the actions of France. Meanwhile,
Turkish Foreign Ministry said that France violated international law
by its irresponsible decision and announced that the country would
not hesitate in applying those measures that it deems appropriate
and which are thought out in advance.

Whatever it was, the adoption of this bill is the biggest in modern
history, Turkey’s foreign policy defeat. In addition to the formal
political troubles, the new French law almost completely closes the
road for Turkey in the European Union. The latter, even without that,
did not wait in its member ranks the second, after Russia, Euro-Asian
power, and now actually Turkey was put in the position of Serbia, by
placing deliberately unacceptable political ultimatum. What is today
France believes “genocide” was actually a process of transformation
of super-ethnic nature of the Ottoman Empire in the national Turkish
Republic. Without events in 1915-23 there would be no Turkey in the
modern sense.

TURKEY-ARMENIA RELATIONS MORE ‘IMPORTANT’ THAN ‘GENOCIDE’ LAW

EuroNews

Jan 24 2012
France

At a protest outside the French consulate in Istanbul, Turkish people
unhappy at the passing of the French ‘genocide bill’ vented their
anger. One banner called the Armenian genocide a French imperial lie.

National newspapers condemned the law that will make it illegal to
deny the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was genocide.

There are around 70,000 ethnic Armenians living in Turkey. Their
reactions have been more muted than those seen on the streets of
Yerevan.

The Armenians living in Turkey have bigger concerns, according to
Ara Kochunyan, a journalist who works for Armenian-language newspaper
Jamanak.

“The importance of France or the importance of this decision doesn’t
change a single fact in this matter. The law being passed by the French
Senate doesn’t directly affect what is important – the relationship
between Turkey and Armenia. This is a bilateral question between Turks
and Armenians and it should be resolved accordingly,” said Kochunyan.

Meanwhile, riot police stood by while the radical right-wing
Felicity Party made a statement outside the French embassy in Ankara,
reiterating a familiar message coming from Turkey – that France has
supplanted historians by deciding what happened to the Armenians
was genocide.

‘TURKEY, FRANCE TENSIONS WILL GET WORSE’

Press TV
Jan 24 2012
Iran

Interview with Brent Budowsky, columnist with The Hill newspaper

France’s Senate has approved a controversial bill that makes it
illegal to deny as genocide the mass killings of Armenians during
Turkey’s Ottoman era.

The bill says anyone denying the deaths as genocide will face a year
in jail and a fine of 58 thousand dollars. The legislature needs
to be approved by President Nicolas Sarkozy to become law. France’s
lower house has already approved the bill.

Turkey has acknowledged the loss of Armenian lives, however, it says
the death toll is exaggerated and does not amount to genocide.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Brent Budowsky, a columnist
with The Hill newspaper, to share his thoughts on the issue. What
follows is the text of the interview:

Press TV: Where do you think the relationship between Turkey and
France is headed to now?

Budowsky: Well, it has gone from bad to worse right now. I hope there
is some way that the French can pull back a bit and that there can
be some accommodation. This is not a helpful move. Obviously the
French are having a presidential election soon and a lot of this is
based on the presidential election on politicking particularly by
Sarkozy’s government.

We will have an election here in the United States and as anyone
knows, it is getting pretty ugly here and politicians do things in
election years that are not good. Turkey is an important country;
Turkey is the crossroads of Europe in the Middle East; Turkey is
an important member of NATO; Turkey is an important country to the
future of Europe as well as the future of Middle East.

Obviously, between 500 thousand and 1.5 million Armenians died. It is
tragic; it was horrible; we wish it did not happen; we pray for them
and we wish them all well in Armenia today. But this was something
that came at a very bad time for political reasons.

There are big problems in the Middle East and in Europe and in the
world and to be diverting back to this kind of an issue right now in
such a divisive way is unhelpful. It will get worse unless the French
pull back which I hope they do and I hope some accommodation can be
reached that brings dignity to everybody.

Press TV: What kind of sanctions can Turkey impose on France, and
will France then impose sanctions against Turkey?

Budowsky: They can impose economic sanctions; they can pull back
from supporting an international news agency that the Turks are a
significant investor in; they can withdraw contacts both military
and economic and civilian.

Then the French will probably try not to retaliate but might have to.
It is important that everybody calm down and it is important that
everybody pull back and I believe that France has to make the first
move in pulling back because they took this action that has inflamed
the situation that does not help Armenia, does not help Turkey;
does not help France; does not help Europe; it does not help the world.

There are big problems that are immediate now and the people of
every one of those countries has a stake in solving those problems
from the Middle East right on across to France and this kind of a
controversy with more sanctions coming and sanctions in retaliation
and demonstrations from all people over an issue that goes back to
the early twentieth century does not help anyone.

And it would be in the interest of everybody involved to pull back
but the answer to your question is this keeps going forward; it will
get worse and there will be worse relations between all of these
countries and that is not helpful to any of these countries.

Press TV: If this situation does get worse, what impact will you say
this have on Turkey’s bid to join the EU?

Budowsky: Obviously, it will not increase the chances that Turkey
wants to be in or that the EU would put it in. But this gets back to
the point I made earlier. The European Union has tremendous serious
major financial, economic and political problems right now. Turkey,
it would be nice if it was one of many solutions to these.

There are much more important countries that can be even bigger
solutions. But at this moment in the history of Europe, the last thing
that Europe needs is this kind of a controversy. The very question of
economic stability, democracy, jobs, hope, opportunity and poverty, all
of these issues in Europe right now are hanging in the balance because
of a financial crisis that is devastating and that is hurting people.

That is what they should be working on now, not debating issues,
whatever the merits that the historians could debate from a hundred
years ago.

FRENCH GENOCIDE VOTE HISTORIC: ARMENIA

Financial Express Bangladesh

Jan 24 2012

YEREVAN, Jan 24, (agencies): The French Senate’s vote to approve a
bill outlawing denial of the Armenian genocide is a historic move
that will help prevent crimes against humanity, Armenia’s foreign
ministry said Tuesday.

“This day will be written in gold not only in the history of friendship
between the Armenian and French peoples, but also in the annals of
the history of the protection of human rights worldwide,” Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said in a statement.

The vote “will further consolidate the existing mechanisms of
prevention of crimes against humanity,” the statement said.

Armenia and its large diaspora around the world has long campaigned
for international recognition of the killings during World War I as
genocide, despite strong denials from Turkey.

The issue has poisoned relations between the two neighbours whose
mutual border remains closed, and still inspires intense feelings
among Armenians.

Nalbandian said that the French vote was the “logical continuation”
of France’s recognition of the mass killings as genocide in 2001.

FRENCH DRAFT LAW ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ROCKS FRANCO-TURKISH RELATIONS

TIME

Jan 24 2012

Anyone who hoped that calm and harmony might somehow prevail after
the passage of a French bill criminalizing denial of the 1915
genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was mightily disappointed
Monday night. Adoption of that draft legislation by France’s upper
house of parliament late Monday sparked immediate outrage and protest
from Turkey-and considerable concern about how that dispute might
impact an array of critical international issues. The resumed uproar
surrounding the pending French law means already strained relations
between France and Turkey are likely to decay even more in the coming
days and months-and at the very time when Ankara’s role as a partner
with the European Union on hot topic dossiers like repression in
Syria and Iran’s nuclear program is more important than ever.

The bill passed France’s upper chamber Monday night in a 127 to 86
vote that crossed party lines-yet also united parliamentarians on
the left and right in opposition. That result sends the text towards
procedural clearance en route to becoming law, following its approval
by the lower house of parliament in December. The measure is worded
to criminalize and punish denial of any officially recognized genocide
with prison terms of up to a year, and fines of $59,000. But the fact
that a similar law particular to the Shoah has been in place since
1990 means the new bill’s intent is to extend those penalties to
negation of the mass killing of Armenians by Turks nearly a century
ago as well-an event France officially recognized as genocide in
2001. Around 20 other nations categorize the slaying of what many
historians generally calculate was 1.5 million Armenians in 1915-16 as
genocide, though fewer have also criminalized its denial. Turkey has
steadfastly rejected that the killing of Armenians was systematic,
and says those victims-often cited as 300,000 to 500,000-were among
the many people caught up in violence arising from Ottoman Empire’s
break-up at the end of World War I. Not surprisingly, the response
of the Turkish government, many of its citizens, and ethnic Turks
around the world was one of indignation and anger. Reiterating its
protests and threats when the measure passed France’s lower house
in December, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying
“Turkey is committed to taking all the necessary steps against this
unjust disposition, which reduces basic human values and public
conscience to nothing.” Officials in Ankara also indicated they’d
repeat their temporary December recall of Turkey’s ambassador from
Paris, and move beyond already suspended political, military, and
economic activities with France towards sterner measures. “You can
also expect that diplomatic relations now will be at the level of
charges d’affaires not ambassadors anymore.” Turkish Ambassador Tahsin
Burcuoglu told reporters in Paris after Monday’s vote.

Still, by Tuesday morning, some evidence had arisen to suggest that
though Ankara will register its anger and opposition to the French bill
in no uncertain terms, Turkey may decide to stop short of engaging in
a full diplomatic battle with Paris. ‘This is a re-emergence of the
mentality of the Middle Ages. History is not made in parliaments,”
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told legislators from his
AKP party Tuesday. “Our attitude will be one of reason and reserve,
we are still in a period of patience. We will plan our actions based
what happens next. Our sanctions will be step by step.”

If Erdogan’s comments seemed to clash with the more heated language
arising elsewhere in Turkey, he wasn’t alone in sounding a different
note from the prevailing chorus. Though its backers in France
hailed the French text as a logical step in treating all officially
recognized genocides in the same legal manner, it drew considerable
opposition and criticism from other quarters. Ethicists, historians,
and legislators have all expressed unease at seeing a parliament
create legally binding analyses and definitions of historical events.
Jean-Pierre Sueur, a member of Socialist-dominated upper house of
parliament, challenged the bill with the view “it isn’t the business
of the law, and especially criminal law, to interview in the field
of history and to rule in terms of historical truth.”

Similarly, respected historian and Green party legislator Esther
Benbassa argued “this hastily slapped together law will neither
aid recognition of the Armenian genocide in Turkey, nor help bring
together the Armenian and Turkish people.” But given Turkey’s
unwavering rejection of the genocide-and its position that such
a definition is an inexcusable insult to the nation’s honor-some
of the text’s backers said it was necessary to give France’s 2001
recognition of the Armenian genocide symbolic and legal sense in the
face of continuing denial of a tragic historical event. “The truth
is not always strong enough to conquer lies,” Socialist legislator
Yannick Vaugrenard told his upper house peers.

Be that as it may, many politicians and observers in France derided the
push to pass the bill as a heavy-handed electoral ploy by President
Nicolas Sarkozy and his fellow conservatives to prop up their troubled
outlook heading into general elections next spring. Those skeptics
say the text is aimed at endearing Sarkozy and the right to France’s
500,000-strong Armenian community-a claim Erdogan also nodded to in
responding to Monday’s vote.

“We will not allow anyone to use Turkey for political mileage,”
Erdogan told legislators. “I am addressing French politicians,
intellectuals and the French people from here: this verdict is a
massacre of freedom of expression.”

Though they didn’t go quite that far in their analysis of its motives,
even some of Sarkozy’s cabinet aired discomfort with the bill and
its possible consequences. During a Tuesday appearance on French TV
channel Canal Plus, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe lamented the vote as
“ill-timed”-a moderated echo of his reaction to the text in December
as “useless and counter-productive,” and incapable to “change minds in
Turkey.” But with the looming law nearly a done deal on Tuesday, Juppe
stressed the importance of France and Turkey to rise above the current
dispute and remain focused on wider, longer-term mutual objectives.

“We need good relations with (Turkey) and we need to get through this
excessive phase,” Juppe said. “We have very important economic and
trade ties. I hope the reality of the situation will not be usurped
by emotions.”

Juppe’s position reflects his concern over geopolitical problems
France and the European Union are seeking to deal with-in part by
relying on Turkey’s unique position as a bridge between Europe and
the Middle East. The push to pass a total EU embargo on Iranian oil
to increase pressure on Tehran to relinquish its nuclear development
program, for example, will need full Turkish support to have desired
impact. Meanwhile, Ankara’s support is vital to international – and
European- efforts to force Damascus to end its bloody repression of
pro-democracy protesters. (Turkey shares a 900 km border with Syria;
it has hosted Syrian opposition leaders as well as defectors from
the Syrian army.). And despite the hot reaction of Turks generally
to Monday’s French vote, Erdogan’s manner of protesting the bill
seemed to indicate he isn’t ready to throw the wider and more crucial
geopolitical baby out with the troubled bathwater of Franco-Turkish
relations.

“They are trying to woo votes by using enmity towards Turkey,” Erdogan
commented. “The decision by the French Senate does not exist as far
as we are concerned.”

-with reporting by Pelin Turgut/Istanbul