France warned over genocide vote
- 13 years ago
PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL
A French move to outlaw denial of the 1915 massacre of Armenians as genocide has brought dire warnings from Turkey about the consequences of passing it.
The draft law threatens offenders with a one-year jail term and fine of more than 58, 000 dollars.
Turkey's foreign minister says relations between the two countries will suffer if it goes through.
SOUNDBITE: Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish Foreign Minister, saying (Turkish):
"No one can expect us to be silent. We considered this issue with our prime minister and our president. We hope that the French parliament embraces the values that make France. We hope that France will not step on a big and old friendship and French values for political and electoral concerns. But without any condition, no-one can expect us to keep silent and show no reaction."
Armenia has a museum dedicated to the 1.5 million Christian Armenians it says were killed in a deliberate policy of Genocide by the Ottoman Empire during World War One.
Turkey denies it was genocide and has its own monument to the Turks and Kurds it says were slaughtered at the same time by invading Russians, often aided by Armenian militias.
Paul Chapman, Reuters
A French move to outlaw denial of the 1915 massacre of Armenians as genocide has brought dire warnings from Turkey about the consequences of passing it.
The draft law threatens offenders with a one-year jail term and fine of more than 58, 000 dollars.
Turkey's foreign minister says relations between the two countries will suffer if it goes through.
SOUNDBITE: Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish Foreign Minister, saying (Turkish):
"No one can expect us to be silent. We considered this issue with our prime minister and our president. We hope that the French parliament embraces the values that make France. We hope that France will not step on a big and old friendship and French values for political and electoral concerns. But without any condition, no-one can expect us to keep silent and show no reaction."
Armenia has a museum dedicated to the 1.5 million Christian Armenians it says were killed in a deliberate policy of Genocide by the Ottoman Empire during World War One.
Turkey denies it was genocide and has its own monument to the Turks and Kurds it says were slaughtered at the same time by invading Russians, often aided by Armenian militias.
Paul Chapman, Reuters