Posted on 10/10/2006 3:43:40 AM PDT by Republicain
ANKARA, Oct 10, 2006 (AFP) - Turkish-French ties appeared headed for trouble Tuesday over a controversial bill on the World War I massacres of Armenians as Ankara threatened to bar French companies from lucrative projects and boycott French goods if the draft is adopted.
The bill, scheduled for debate before the French National Assembly on Thursday, calls for one year in prison and a 45,000 euro (57,000 dollar) fine for anyone who denies that Armenians were the victims of a genocide under the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey.
Drawn up by the Socialist opposition, the draft was first submitted in May, but the debate ran out of time after filibustering from the ruling UMP party bloc.
Turkish officials believe the bill stands a good chance of being voted Thursday -- as a gesture to France's large Armenian community ahead of legislative elections next year -- as many lawmakers opposed to the bill will be away in their constituencies.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul warned at the weekend that French firms would be barred from major tenders, including one for the planned construction of the country's first nuclear power plant, if the bill is accepted.
"We will be absolutely unable to (cooperate) in big tenders," Gul told the popular daily Hurriyet.
"The French will lose Turkey," Gul also said in remarks to the Yeni Safak newspaper.
The Ankara Chamber of Commerce, which groups some 3,200 businesses, threatened to boycott French goods and the Consumers' Union, a non-governmental consumer rights group, joined the chorus on Monday.
"If the bill is adopted, we will call for the boycott of one French product every week starting from October 12. We will increase the number of French goods and services to be boycotted until the law is annulled," the group's leader Bulent Deniz said in a written statement.
In 2001, Turkey sidelined French companies from public tenders and cancelled projects awarded to French firms when the parliament adopted a resolution recognising the Armenian massacres as genocide.
At stake now is a flourishing trade between the two countries that totalled 8.2 billion euros (10 billion dolars) in 2005.
About 250 French firms are active in Turkey, providing employment for about 65,000 people.
France also plays a leading role in foreign direct investment in Turkey, with 2.1 billion dollars (1.6 billion euors) last year and 328 million dollars (260 million euros) in the first seven months of this year.
Many commentators warned Monday that ending economic ties with France would also have a bruising affect on Turkey, which sees foreign investment as vital to its recovery from two severe financial crises.
"The 'punishment' to be imposed on France in case the bill is passed will be a double-edged sword and inflict as much damage on us as on France," one columnist wrote in the mass-circulation Hurriyet.
Turkey could also opt for political measures against France, such as keeping bilateral contacts at a minimum and at the lowest diplomatic level, and even cancelling bilateral visits.
A senior lawmaker has already warned that the Turkish parliament may retaliate with a law branding the killings of Algerians under French colonial rule as genocide and introducing prison terms for those who deny it.
The Armenian massacres are one of most controversial episodes in Turkish history and open debate on the issue has only recently begun in Turkey, often sending nationalist sentiment into frenzy.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917.
Turkey categorically rejects the genocide label, arguing that 300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with invading Russian troops as the Ottoman Empire fell apart.
Definition :
The systematic killing of substantial numbers of people on the basis of ethnicity, religion, political opinion, social status, or other particularity.
Acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
Etymology
Coined in 1944 from Greek genos (‘race,’ ‘kind’) and -cide, from Latin -cidere, ‘to kill’.
(Wiktionary)
Damn. I have an awful feeling I am about to start buying french things in order to support the French in their (probably unprincipled, but absolutely correct) stand.
Très bien! It is good to see that France has more balls on this issue than Germany, were nobody seems to be interested. If there will be a real clash between France and Turkey, our lazy German politicians are forced to line up with yours. We are by far the most important import and export partners of the Turks and it is our decision if we allow them to come closer to Europe. Therefore they are well advised to clean their basement from those old corpses. To be a member in the "European club" means dealing with historic realities in a proper way - even if they are as unpleasant as the genocide of the Armenians.
France is more interested on this issue because about 700,000 Armenians have been saved by emigrate to France between 1915 and 1923. So millions of french citizens have armenian origins, as the singer Charles Aznavour.
Yes, I think that the majority of french citizens is not in favor of the Turkey's adhesion to EU. It's not as much a question of religion than a question of politics. Turkey is seen as non-european, as a nationalistic country unable to face his past (armenian genocide), unable to solve the Cyprus question and mostly benighted (honor killings, human traffic...). The opposition to Turkey's adhesion has been a key issue to the french "non" to the European constitution last year.
Liberte, Egalite, Stupidite.
Having this law be rejected by the supreme court will harm the Armenians and their cause.
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