Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Turkish paper calls for message bombardment of French MPs
by Agence France Presse, January 11, 2001
Posted: Monday, January 15, 2001 05:23 pm CST

ANKARA, Jan 11 -- French lawmakers mulling a controversial bill officially recognising as genocide the massacre of Armenians in the last years of Turkey's Ottoman empire look set to come under fire by fax and email.

One of Turkey's biggest-selling daily newspaper, Milliyet, on Thursday launched a campaign for readers to "bombard" French parliamentarians with messages warning them not to support the bill when it is debated next week.

The paper gave readers a list of addresses of 15 MPs and French journalists, and a prepared text saying it was up to historians, and not politicians, to pronounce on "event of the past."

"I hope that this absurdity comes to an end and that the French National Assembly is not manipulated by Armenian extremists," the text said.

The foreign affairs committee of the French lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, approved the bill on Wednesday.

The decision means the unamended text, which has already been adopted by the upper house, the Senate, will be put before the Assembly on January 18.

The bill is an initiative of individual deputies, and has been disowned by the French government which fears it will have damaging repurcussions on relations with Turkey.

On Monday a visiting delegation of Turkish parliamentarians warned of unspecified "reprisals" if the bill becomes law.

Armenians say that 1.5 million people died in massacres and mass deportations between 1915 and 1917, while Turkey claims a much smaller figure were killed in what it says was a revolt against the authorities.

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