Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Shots fired at French consulate in Istanbul
by The Times of India, Feb 6 2001
Posted: Sunday, February 11, 2001 08:25 pm CST

ISTANBUL: Two men were arrested at the weekend, one after firing shots at the French consulate in Istanbul and another on suspicion of planning to bomb the premises, according to diplomat and media reports Monday.

The incidents come at a time when Turkish-French ties have been soured by France's adoption of a bill recognising as genocide the killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.

The first incident occurred around midnight Saturday when a man fired six shots at the windows of the consulate -- in the Taksim district on the city's European quarter, a diplomat said.

A man, who does not have a criminal record was later arrested by police.

In the second incident Sunday police detained a man suspected of planning a bomb attack against the consulate, under heavy security since the approval of the genocide bill, Anatolia news agency reported.

The man, armed with a pistol and three hand grenades, was seized by police as he tried to cross the security line around the consulate, the report said.

The agency said a search of the suspect's home revealed layout plans of the French consulate and publications of the National Youth Foundation, an Islamist organisation.

Officials at the consulate could not confirm the second incident.

France's genocide bill has provoked public outrage in Turkey with almost daily protests outside French diplomatic missions and calls by trade unions to boycott French goods.

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

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

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