Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Turkey cuts French ties
by The Scotsman (UK), March 7, 2001
Posted: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 01:56 am CST

ANKARA has cancelled a co-operation programme designed to help SMEs in France gain a foothold in the Turkish market in protest at the French parliament's recent recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide.

The Kosgeb, Turkey's small business development agency, said this week the scheme had been "suspended until the situation improves".

Ankara is furious with Paris over the Assemblée Nationale's decision last month to recognise the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces in 1915 as genocide. The Turks argue that France had no business taking a stand on the issue, and also contest the scale of the 1915 killings. Ankara claims that between 30,000 and 50,000 Armenians lost their lives in the massacre.

This latest reduction in trading links with Paris follows a decision to cancel a high-profile weapons contract with one of France's leading arms suppliers. The SME Cupertino programme was set up 1998 as part of a deal between the Kosgeb and France's agency for the international promotion of French technology and enterprise.

Even before Ankara announced its decision to suspend the scheme, the Kosgeb recalled one Turkish employee who was being paid by the French authorities to work on the programme.

Many analysts say the Turkish government's action represents a desperate bid to divert attention from the economic crisis gripping the country, in the wake of the recent panic devaluation of the Turkish lira. Since the devaluation, the currency has lost 30 per cent of its value against the dollar.

They also point out that the head of the Kosgeb, Ahmet Kenan Tanrikulu, is a member of the extreme right Nationalist Action Party, a group known for its zenophobic views.

Insiders say imports of French agricultural products have also been hit by the wave of anti-French feeling currently gripping Turkey. One expert said the Turkish Agriculture Ministry, which is also headed by a MHP member, has started to refuse import licenses for French farm products.

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