Armenian genocide rage of Turkey against France

Paris – Yesterday Turkey threatened commercial and economic reprisals against France after Chirac promulgated the law by which Paris recognizes the genocide of the Armenians in 1915. The law was unanimously adopted by the National Assembly on January 18, it had already provoked a decisive reaction from Turkey that never recognized the massacre and the deportation of over a million and a half Armenians under the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1917. In the aftermath of the position taken by the French Parliament, the Ankara government had called its ambassador back to Paris, threatening further protest. Yesterday Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit himself announced that his country will review economic and trade relations with France as soon as possible. For two weeks the French embassy in Ankara has been targeted by protesters who denounce the attitude of France and call for a boycott of French products. Banners calling for a boycott appeared in various cities in Turkey; especially in the northeastern region which was the scene of massacres 85 years ago. To make the reports even more tense came the decision of the Paris Municipal Council to erect a monument in memory of the genocide. A decision immediately qualified by the Ankara Foreign Ministry as “a new blow to Turkish-French relations”. The crisis is damaging military cooperation between the two countries: France is one of Turkey’s main suppliers and Paris is in danger of being canceled by the program of contracts that Ankara plans to sign, in the coming years, with foreign military industries that would amount to 150 billion dollars. So far Ankara has already canceled an agreement with the Alcatel for the construction of a satellite. For now, among the EU countries only Belgium and Greece have recognized the Armenian genocide; in Italy the Parliament voted a resolution calling for recognition.

January 31 2001