As a vote in the French Parliament to pass a bill to penalize “Armenian genocide” denial draws closer, Ankara is mobilizing efforts to hinder approval through diplomatic initiatives, calling the attempt to limit freedom of expression “a mentality from the dark ages” and warning that it will recall its ambassador in Paris if the resolution passes.
“A ban on rejecting Armenian allegations of genocide in France reflects a mentality from the dark ages,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency, when he spoke on the floor of the Turkish Parliament as his ministry’s 2012 budget was discussed by lawmakers late Wednesday night. Davutoğlu suggested such a perspective would pose a great danger to Europe and that adopting a law that blocks freedom of expression would make France, which prides itself as “the center of the enlightenment,” an advocate of an old-fashioned mentality that blocks alternative ideas.
Davutoğlu also suggested that passing such a law would contradict the very foundations that France stood upon and would be seen as an attempt to silence history and block a free environment for discussion.
Turkish Ambassador Tahsin Burcuoğlu will be recalled to Ankara for consultations for an indefinite period of time, Engin Solakoğlu, undersecretary of the Turkish Embassy in Paris, told Anatolia on Thursday. “Passage of the measure will lead to irreparable damage in Turkish-French ties,” Solakoğlu further noted. Ankara suggests that the issue should be left to historians to decide and that parliament should not re-write the histories of other nations.
Elaborating on a Foreign Ministry meeting on Tuesday, Turkish EU Minister and chief negotiator Egemen Bağış further noted that Turkey had a roadmap ready to facilitate either decision from France. “We are conducting our initiatives at the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. Such bills are short lived,” he was quoted as saying by Anatolia on Wednesday. Bağış also repeated his opinion that the French attempt was a pre-election stunt ahead of next year’s presidential elections in the country, joining Turkish officials in their speculation that President Nicolas Sarkozy is behind the revival of the genocide denial legislation.
Bağış also argued that French businessmen conducting business in Turkey or with Turks could move against the legislation, approval of which could seriously damage political and economic relations between Turkey and France. France could either vote to drop the legislation as it did back in 2006 when the Senate refused to discuss criminalizing genocide denial, or could adopt it as a law and punish anybody who refuses to acknowledge the killings of Armenians in 1915 during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire as genocide. The punishment set by the legislation includes a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros.
France passed a law in 2001 that officially recognized the 1915 incidents as “Armenian genocide,” and the French president has recently increased the tone of his criticism, demanding that Turkey recognize the tragic events as such. Turkey however refuses to recognize the killings genocide and says the Armenian estimation of deaths as more than 1 million people is inflated and that the deaths were civil war casualties from all ethnic and religious backgrounds.
UPDATED: French Senate Approves Bill On Armenian Genocide By A Vote of 127 to 86
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Originally Posted by Concillius
) obsession with pissing Turkey off aside, there is a presidential election coming up in France in April, if memory serves. Given the number of Armenians in France, this is a no-brainer for politicians who can't see beyond their own voter base. The expected Turkish reaction will also damage Turkey's image at the EU level, making membership that much more difficult (assuming it's still possible, that is), which is another French goal. 
. Censor censor censor, and they have the gall to call themselves a free nation.
