Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Former Turkish PM asks Chirac to block Armenian genocide bill
by Agence France Presse, January 21, 2001
Posted: Tuesday, January 23, 2001 00:35 am CST

ISTANBUL, Jan 21 -- Former Turkish prime minister Tansu Ciller has urged French President Jacques Chirac to overturn a parliamentary text that describes the massacres of Armenians in Turkey more than 80 years ago as genocide, the Anatolia news agency reported Sunday.

Ciller asked Chirac in a letter to take "every measure to oppose and to stop" the text adopted by the French parliament on Thursday, which has sparked Turkish outrage and the recall of its ambassador to Paris for consultations.

Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit told reporters in Ankara on Saturday that he would announce sanctions against France within days that would punish Paris but would not damage the Turkish economy.

Saturday marked a second day of demonstrations in front of the French consulate in Istanbul, with protesters demanding Turkey "immediately" withdraw its candidature for membership of the European Union over the row.

Ankara and Paris had previously enjoyed warm ties, and Turkey had been looking to France as one of its chief supporters in its bid to join the European Union.

Turkish trade and industry bodies also have called for a boycott of French goods. A food distribution center near Istanbul announced Saturday it would halt imports of French fruits and vegetables, Turkish television reported.

France is among Turkey's main economic partners, with bilateral trade in 1999 standing at some 4.5 billion dollars (4.8 billion euros).

Ciller, now head of the opposition center-right True Path Party, told Chirac: "This decision has deeply hurt the Turkish people.

"I want to believe that your personal commitment will make it possible to put an end to this unfriendly and unjust gesture against my country."

Ankara says the French bill was passed for political motives, aimed at wooing the country's half-million people of Armenian descent ahead of municipal elections in March.

On Friday, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said that public tenders and defence contracts were generally affected by such measures -- an apparent hint that French firms might be excluded from defense tenders.

Ankara categorically rejects claims of genocide, saying that some 300,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed in what was internal fighting in the dissolution years of the Ottoman Empire.

Armenians, however, maintain that 1.5 million people died in orchestrated massacres between 1915 and 1917.

Press reports on Sunday said that several Turkish universities have decided to cancel French classes.

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