Hürriyet, Turkey
Oct 13 2006
French Parliament deaf to advance warnings
Yesterday’s newspapers in France were filled with warnings of the
result of an approval vote in the Parliament for the so-called
“genocide denial” bill. EU Commissioner for Expansion, Olli Rehn, had
written a letter printed in the “Liberation” newspaper warning “don’t
kill off dialogue with Turkey.”
In the end though, it appeared that the members of the French
Parliament had blocked their ears to these warnings. Following the
vote, which overwhelming approved the controversial bill, the EU
Commission issued clear criticisms of France.
Speaking after the vote, spokesperson for the EU Commission on
Expansion, Khristina Nagy, said “Unfortunately, this decision will
make EU harmonizing reforms in Turkey more difficult. And if the
approved bill goes into implementation, it will mean a deadend for
Armenian-Turkish relations.”
Olli Rehn: This bill puts millions of Turks into position of being
suspect
In a letter to the “Liberation” newspaper, EU Commissioner Olli Rehn
warned “This bill, with its historical opinion it is trying to
impose, puts millions of Turks and their country into the position of
being suspect.”
European Parliament MP Duff: Dark day for freedom in France
Another voice condemning the French vote came from European
Parliament member Andrew Duff, who said “The French Parliament has
rejected freedom of thought and expression. It is a dark day in
France for freedom.” Duff added “How can France insist to Turkey that
it develop its own freedoms and laws when it finds itself in the
exact opposite situation?”
Le Figaro warns: Don’t make mistake
And finally, yesterday’s Le Figaro printed a warning yesterday to the
members of the French Parliament not to “make a mistake.” Calling the
“genocide denial” bill an “opportunistic” initiative, Le Figaro urged
MPs not to push France into a situation of absurdity with an approval
vote.

Hürriyet, Turkey
Oct 13 2006
Ankara readies itself for response to French decision
Sources in Ankara are reporting that the Turkish response to the
French Parliament’s approval of the controversial “Armenian genocide
denial” bill will be swift and strong.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has announced that the Turkish
Parliament will hold a special session on France on Tuesday, and that
on the agenda will be a number of possibilities, including a freezing
of all bilateral relations with France, putting all French firms
wishing to bid on contracts in Turkey on a “red list,” and even
freezing for the time being relations between the Turkish Armed
Forces and their French counterparts.
Terse statement from Prime Ministerial offices
The Prime Ministerial buildings in Ankara yesterday issued the
following stern statement in the wake of news from Paris: “There are
some narrow minded politicians in France who have caused their
country to live with this shame, and who should think about what will
come following this decision.”
In Ankara, French Ambassador Paul Poudade said he thought
French-Turkish relations would suffer for a few weeks, and then get
back on track. In a statement to NTV news last night, Ambassador
Poudade said he thought the comments issued from the Turkish Foreign
Ministry were “a little painful, a little sad, but all in all,
measured.”

Focus News, Bulgaria
Oct 13 2006
Milliyet, Turkey: EU Calls on Turkey to Keep Calm over France’s
Passing a Bill on Armenian Genocide

13 October 2006 | 11:30 | FOCUS News Agency

Strasbourg/ Ankara. European Parliamentary rapporteur Camiel Eurlings
called on Turkey to keep calm about the bill on the Armenian
genocide, which France’s Parliament passed, the Turkish newspaper
Milliyet reports. The MEP said the adoption of the bill would impede
the efforts at abolishing some restrictions on the freedom of thought
and the efforts at doing away with tortures in Turkey.
France’s lower house of parliament approved a bill on Thursday making
it a crime to deny Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of
Ottoman Turks. The bill provoked anger in Turkey, which said the vote
would damage ties between the two NATO allies and French firms
operating in Turkey.

Toronto Sun, Canada
Oct 13 2006
Turks angry at French bill
By SUN WIRE SERVICES

PARIS — A thin turnout of French legislators approved a bill
yesterday that would make it a crime to deny that mass killings of
Armenians in Turkey during the World War I era amounted to genocide.
Angry Turks called for a boycott French goods.
The genocide issue has become intertwined with debate about allowing
Turkey into the European Union.

AZG Armenian Daily #196, 14/10/2006

Turkey
ANTI-FRENCH HYSTERIA IN HEYDAY IN TURKEY
Turkish Leaders `Shame’ France
As it was anticipated, the adoption by the French parliament of the
bill penalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide has spurred major
hysteria.
Responding to this event, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
named the French politicians “narrow-minded” for legalizing “the
Armenian genocide lie” and said that it is shameful in terms of
“freedom of thought” and is at the same time a blemish for
France. This country, he said, is destined to live with shame.
Erdogan labeled passage of the bill a “gross historic mistake” and
added: “History will surely condemn them who neglect rational
manifestations of opposition. We will not accept such unfairness,
neither will tolerate it.”
Byulent Arenc, speaker of the Turkish parliament, called the French
National Assembly’s decision “shameful” and manifestation of “hostile
attitude towards the Turkish people.” Foreign minister Abdullah Gul
joined him. “With this decision of the its parliament France showed
that it is a country that pursuits minor goals. To reach these goals
it has trampled on its historic authority. Let no one think that
Turkey will stomach all these. We have elaborated countermeasures for
all spheres that will be gradually used. This issue is national in
essence. Hopefully, France will get out of this deadlock,” Milliet
quoted Gul as saying.
Though Gul did not mention of these spheres, Milliet found out from
Foreign Ministry’s sources that Turkey is going to lower to the
minimum cooperation with France in military, politics, healthcare,
education, culture and trade. Meanwhile it is supposed that France
will be alienated from all key international tenders in Turkey.
Denis Bayqal, leader of the Popular Republican party, said on occasion
of the bill’s adoption that it is impossible to take history captive
by a bill and that France has signed beneath historic shame.
By Hakob Chakrian

ITN News, UK
Oct 13 2006
Turkey reels after French genocide vote

9.29, Fri Oct 13 2006
Turkey’s EU ambitions are in doubt after France voted to make it a
crime to deny that Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of
Ottoman Turks during World War One. (Pic: Reuters)
The vote has not been supported by the French government and the
upper house is not expected to ratify it, but Turkey has warned the
damage has already been done to relations between the two countries.
Turkey continues to deny accusations of the genocide of some 1.5
million Armenians.
And it argues the French vote has exposed anti-Turkey feelings which
will undermine pro-EU liberals and bolster Turkish nationalists.
But French Parliament member Roland Blum said he thought the vote
would rectify a double standard in recognising parts of history.
He said: “This is not possible to have two categories of genocide,
Jewish genocide which has been always condemned while Armenian
genocide has been condemned only in some cases.”
France is believed to have the largest Armenian immigrant community
in western Europe, with up to half a million people of Armenian
descent living there.

AZG Armenian Daily #196, 14/10/2006

Turkey
MESROP MOUTAFIAN AND HRANT DINK ON FRENCH BILL ON DENIAL OF ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE
According to Turkish Milliet newspaper, Hrant Dink, editor-in-chief of
Agos, stated that after the adoption of the French bill on the
Armenian Genocide Turkey appeared in more beneficial position that
Armenia. He explained this by the fact that the international
community had always considered the Armenians as victims in this
issue, while at present; the Turks have occupied this favorable
position. At the same time, Dink stated that the adoption of the
French bill was a shame from the viewpoint of the freedom of speech.
According to the Turkish newspaper, Mesrop Moutafian, Patriarch of
Constantinople, stated that the French bill made great harm to the
tense Armenian-Turkish relations. He added that the bill is
anti-democratic, as it hinders the right of the freedom of speech.
Besides, Moutafian said that the Armenian residents of Turkey follow
the developments with concern and expect pressures from the Turks
after the adoption of the abovementioned bill.
In his turn, Famous Turkish writer Elif Safak said in the interview to
the French Le Monde, that the adoption of the bill would not
contribute to the recognition of the historical issue (the Armenian
genocide). At the same time, he added that that the Turks should share
the grief of the Armenian people, respect that and get along with the
past. He expressed hope that the Turks are able to discuss the mistake
committed by their ancestors.
By Hakob Chakrian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Toronto Star
Oct 13 2006
France’s Armenian genocide bill hurts Turkish EU bid
Oct. 13, 2006. 01:00 AM
SANDRO CONTENTA
EUROPEAN BUREAU
LONDON – A French bill making it a crime to deny that Armenians
suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks is being widely
described as a blow to Turkey’s chances of joining the European
Union.
The bill – also denounced by critics as an attack on free speech –
was approved by France’s lower house of parliament yesterday. But
either the Senate or President Jacques Chirac is expected to block it
from becoming law.
Still, the vote caused a political storm, not least because some
interpreted it as a bid by leading candidates in the presidential
election next year to exploit anti-Turkey feelings in France.
France’s Armenian community, one of the largest in Europe at an
estimated 500,000, had pushed hard for the bill. It sets the same
penalty as a French law that makes denial of the Nazi genocide of
Jews a crime – a one-year prison term and a 45,000 euro ($64,000)
fine.
“Does a genocide committed in World War I have less value than a
genocide committed in World War II? Obviously not,” Philippe Pomezec,
an MP with the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), said during
the parliamentary debate in Paris. Turkey denies the premise of the
bill, that some 1.5 million Armenians, most of them Christians, were
systematically massacred or starved to death during the
disintegration of the Ottoman empire in 1915.
It argues that thousands of Turks and Armenians died during
inter-ethnic violence when Russia invaded the empire’s eastern
provinces in World War I. Modern Turkey, an officially secular state
with a largely Muslim population of 70 million, was established in
1923.
The bill passed the same day that Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk won
the Nobel Prize for literature.
Pamuk was recently charged with “insulting Turkishness” after telling
a Swiss newspaper that no one in Turkey dared mention the Armenian
massacre. The charges were dropped during the trial.
To some defenders of free speech, France’s bid to criminalize denial
of the massacre was no different than Turkey’s attempts to punish
those who mention it.
“Voltaire must be spinning in his grave,” said Andrew Duff, a British
member of the European Parliament, referring to the 17th century
French philosopher and civil libertarian.
France’s centre-right government didn’t support the bill – proposed
by the opposition Socialist party – but allowed its UMP members to
vote freely. The government promised to block the bill in the Senate,
but Turkey said the damage had been done.
“French-Turkish relations … have been dealt a severe blow today as
a result of the irresponsible false claims of French politicians who
do not see the political consequences of their actions,” the Turkish
Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Turkish analysts said the vote exposes the depth of anti-Turkey
feeling in France, a founding member of the European Union.
They predicted a backlash in Turkey that boosts nationalist sentiment
and weakens support for the legal reforms necessary to join the
25-nation EU.
The possible entry of the first Muslim nation into what is now an
exclusively Christian club raises anxieties in a number of European
countries, even though negotiations between Turkey and the EU are
expected to last at least a decade.

AZG Armenian Daily #196, 14/10/2006

OSCE
OSCE: FIRES IN SOME AREAS OF KARABAKH HAVE NATURAL CAUSE
Defense minister of Armenia Serge Sargsian received yesterday head of
the OSCE Yerevan office Vladimir Pryakhin.
According to Defense Ministry’s press release, at the meeting Pryakhin
presented the results of a recent study of fires in Nagorno Karabakh
by OSCE representatives. The study revealed that the fires in Nagorno
Karabakh have natural cause and that Azerbaijan’s accusations have no
ground. Those areas need creation of reliable anti-fire systems.

AZG Armenian Daily #196, 14/10/2006

Visit
NATO IS FOR PRESENT FORMAT OF NAGORNO KARABAKH REGULATION
Robert Simons Visits Armenia
NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative to the Caucasus and
Central Asia, Robert Simons, stated at a joint press conference with
Vartan Oskanian on Oct. 12 that progress was achieved in all
directions of Armenia’s Individual Action Plan that aims at boosting
cooperation with NATO. He stated that he is glad to support the
Armenian Government, particularly the sphere of defense. Oskanian and
Simons discussed regional issues, spoke about the current
Russian-Georgian relations, and Oskanian informed about the present
stage of Nagorno Karabakh regulation.
Simons stated that NATO supports the Minsk Group process in the
Karabakh issue adding that he hopes the sides will come to
terms. “NATO is not part of the negotiation process. We are grateful
that the two sides keeps us informed but assessment should come from
the Minsk Group co-chairs. That’s the Minsk Group’s work, not the
NATO’s,” said Simons.
Vartan Oskanian, on his part, said that a council affiliated to RA
President was set up to systematize works with the NATO, EU and the
CE. The need for such a council has arisen as documents are huge and
require individual approach. If there is a project within NATO that
Armenia does not opt in, it is not because NATO has left Armenia out
but because neither side had a desire to participate. Mr. Simons added
that NATO, EU and CE have a unique direction of activity and that they
have division of labor and mutual assistance.
As to Georgia’s membership to NATO, Mr. Simons said that Georgia is
now at the first stage and it’s untimely to speak of its membership.
Asked what’s his opinion about Armenia’s goal to join the European
Union, Mr. Simons said: “Contrary to Georgia, neither Armenia nor
Azerbaijan have taken a decision of joining the NATO, and we respect
this stance. We are satisfied with the steps that are being taken
within the framework of the Individual Action Plan.”
By Tamar Minasian