Category: France

Turkey to launch sanctions against France over genocide bill | The Raw Story

By Agence France-Presse

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

ANKARA — Ankara will announce sanctions against Paris, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday on the eve of a debate in the French parliament on a law criminalising the denial of the Armenian genocide by Turkish forces.

“Tomorrow probably I will announce what we will do at the first stage and we will announce what kind of sanctions we will have at the second and third stages,” Erdogan said late Wednesday, according to Anatolia news agency.

He said the move by French President Nicolas Sarkozy was aimed at electoral gains and would “harm Franco-Turkish relations.”

France’s estimated 400,000-strong ethnic Armenian population is seen as an important element in Sarkozy’s support base as he prepares for a tough re-election battle in April next year.

The French parliament is on Thursday expected to approve the bill, which would see anyone in France who publicly denies the 1915 genocide face a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros ($58,000).

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed during World War I by the forces of Turkey’s former Ottoman Empire, a figure Ankara disputes.

The planned French legislation has united Turkey’s ruling and opposition parties which in a joint declaration denounced it as a “grave, unacceptable and historic mistake.”

“We strongly condemn the proposal which denigrates Turkish history,” the lawmakers said, urging France to consider its own past, including its involvement in bloodshed in Algeria and Rwanda.

Around 100 people demonstrated on Wednesday in front of the French embassy in the Turkish capital, chanting slogans.

The protestors unfurled banners reading, “Genocide master imperialist France,” “What were you doing in Algeria?” “What were you doing in Rwanda?” and “Liar Sarkozy.”

The group later dispersed without incident.

Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis said the legislation was against “EU principles, the spirit of the French revolution and reason.”

Turkish media are highly critical of the genocide bill initiated by a lawmaker from the ruling party of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

“Ugly Monsieur,” ran the headline in the opposition newspaper Sozcu, in reference to Sarkozy.

“Sarkozy has nothing to lose,” Semih Idiz wrote in his column in Milliyet daily.

“If winning the votes of French citizens of Armenian origin is eventually going to facilitate his re-election as president, he will end up a winner,” said Idiz.

Turkey and France have enjoyed close ties since Ottoman Empire times, coupled with strong economic links, but relations took a downturn after Sarkozy became president in 2007 and raised vocal objections to Turkey’s EU accession.

A delegation of Turkish lawmakers and businessmen lobbied in France this week in an attempt to head off the genocide bill.

But Turkey’s business sector is advising against a boycott of French products, saying such a move would also harm Turkish interests.

Ankara is considering diplomatic and trade sanctions against Paris, including recalling the Turkish ambassador in Paris for consultations and asking the French ambassador in Turkey to leave.

It is also planning trade sanctions targeting French interests in the country and excluding French companies from public contracts.

Turkey is an important economic partner for France with about 12 billion euros in trade between the two countries in 2010.

Some analysts have criticised the government for brushing aside for years its proposal to set up a commission to probe the 1915 events while Armenian nationalists lobbied hard for recognition of the genocide.

Turkey rejects the term genocide and says between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians, and at least as many Turks, died in combat or from starvation when Armenians rose up and sided with invading Russian forces.

France recognised the killings as genocide in 2001.

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via Turkey to launch sanctions against France over genocide bill | The Raw Story.

December 22, 2011
Turkey set for spat with France over “genocide” bill

Turkish riot police block a road leading to the French Embassy in Ankara, during a demonstration by protesters against a proposed French draft law making it illegal to deny the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire was genocide, December 16, 2011. (REUTERS/Umit Bektas)

PARIS/ANKARA – Relations between France and rising regional power Turkey are likely to nose-dive after a vote in the French parliament on Thursday that would make it a crime to deny that the 1915 mass killing of Armenians was genocide.

Faced with French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s open hostility to Turkey’s all-but stagnant bid to join the European Union, and buoyed by a fast-growing economy, Ankara has little to lose by picking a political fight with Paris.

With Turkey taking an increasingly pivotal and influential role in the Middle East, especially over Syria, Iran and Libya, France could experience some diplomatic discomfort, and French firms could lose out on lucrative Turkish contracts.

Even though nearly 100 years have passed since the killings that coincided with World War One, successive Turkish governments and the vast majority of Turks feel the charge of genocide is a direct insult to their nation.

Turkish leaders also argue that the bill, proposed by 40 deputies from Sarkozy’s party, is a blatant attempt at winning the votes of 500,000 ethnic Armenians in France in next year’s elections, limits freedom of speech and is an unnecessary meddling by politicians in a business best left to historians.

“This proposed law targets and is hostile to the Republic of Turkey, the Turkish nation and the Turkish community living in France,” Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan wrote in a tersely worded letter to Sarkozy last week.

“I want to state clearly that such steps will have grave consequences for future relations between Turkey and France in political, economic, cultural and all areas,” he said.

The volume of trade between France and Turkey from January to November this year was more than $13.5 billion, according to Turkish government statistics. France is Turkey’s fifth biggest export market and the sixth biggest source of its imports.

FRENCH FIRMS FACE LOSSES

The French government has stressed that the bill, which mandates a 45,000-euro fine and a year in jail for offenders, is not its own initiative and pointed out that Turkey cannot impose unilateral trade sanctions.

“We have to remember international rules and with regard to Turkey it’s a member of the WTO (World Trade Organisation) and is linked to the European Union by a customs union and these two commitments mean a non-discriminatory policy towards all companies within the European Union,” said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.

The Turkish government has ruled out an embargo, but has hinted at a boycott. “There will be an effect on consumer preferences,” said Turkish Industry Minister Nihat Ergun.

Others went further and suggested French firms might lose out in profitable defense deals and contracts to build energy pipelines and Turkey’s first nuclear power station.

“France is about to commit a political sin. Newly arising French-Turkish ties in the energy sector may not be in a position to overcome this,” state-run Anatolian news agency quoted Energy Minister Taner Yildiz as saying.

When France passed a law recognizing the killing of Armenians as genocide in 2001, Turkey was in the midst of an economic crisis, and reacted in a similar vein, but figures show trade between the two countries nevertheless grew steadily.

The French lower house of parliament first passed a bill criminalizing the denial of an Armenian genocide in 2006, but it was finally rejected by the Senate in May of this year.

The new bill was made more general to outlaw the denial of any genocide, partly in the hope of appeasing the Turks. While it is very likely to be approved by the lower house, it could also face a long passage into law, though its backers want to see it completed before April’s French presidential election.

Armenia, backed by many historians and parliaments, says some 1.5 million Christian Armenians were killed in what is now eastern Turkey during World War One in a deliberate policy of genocide ordered by the Ottoman Empire.

Ankara denies the killings constitute genocide and says many Muslim Turks and Kurds were also put to death as Russian troops invaded eastern Anatolia, often aided by Armenian militias.

CONFIDENT TURKEY

The Republic of Turkey emerged from the remnants of the Ottoman Empire in 1923 after more than 10 years of almost continual warfare against the British, French, Russians, Arabs, Armenians and Greeks, all of them intent on carving off territory from the dying state.

After war, massacres, famine and massive population movements, the new republic was much more religiously and ethnically homogenous than ever before and Turkey’s new leaders pursued a secular nationalism that turned its back on the past.

“The problem is that the Turkish people don’t know what happened,” said Cengiz Aktar, professor of political science at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir University.

While folk memories of the trauma survive in the villages of eastern Turkey, the education system has always set out to deny any official policy to kill off the Armenians, instead painting a picture of valiant Turks emerging victorious from onslaughts on all sides from treacherous former friends and allies.

The French bill feeds into the sense that many Turks have that they are unwanted by an arrogant Europe and fires up nationalist fervor, though in a more self-confident Turkey, Turkish popular reaction has been more muted than in the past.

Francois Rochebloine, president of the Franco-Armenian friendship group in the French lower house and a leading proponent of the bill, said he did not expect any lasting repercussions.

“These pressures already existed when France in 2001 recognized the Armenia genocide,” said Rochebloine. At that time, he said, “we received two cubic meters of mail and faxes (opposing it), but life continued and Turkey is not mad.”

But the Turkey of 2011 is a very different place from 10 years ago.

“Today, unfortunately (Turkey’s) EU process … is almost dead and Turkey’s hands are not tied anymore. Turkey’s economy is one of the strongest in the world so for this Turkey, one should make a different calculation,” Volkan Bozkir, the head of Turkey’s Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, said in Paris after lobbying French officials.

(Agencies)

December 22, 2011
Armenian patriarchate in Istanbul against Armenian resolution discussion in France?

ISTANBUL. – Archbishop Aram Ateshian at the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul stated that bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide at the French Parliament will damage Armenian-Turkish relations.

Archbishop stated that future of the Armenian-Turkish relations should not be shadowed by the [1915] painful events.

“It will damage friendship of Armenian and Turkish people,” Ateshian added.

via Armenian patriarchate in Istanbul against Armenian resolution discussion in France? | Armenia News – NEWS.am.

December 22, 2011
French Genocide Bill Infuriates Turkey

Turkey’s prime minister on Saturday sharply criticized France for a bill that would make it a crime to deny the World War I-era mass killing of Armenians was genocide.

Saying France should investigate what he claimed was its own “dirty and bloody history” in Algeria and Rwanda, Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted Turkey would respond “through all kinds of diplomatic means.”

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks as their Empire collapsed, an event many international experts regard as genocide and that France recognized as such in 2001. Turkish leaders reject the term, arguing that the toll is inflated, that there were deaths on both sides and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

On Dec. 22, the lower house of French Parliament will debate a proposal that would make denying that the massacre was genocide punishable by up to a year in prison and euro45,000 ($58,500) in fines, putting it on par with Holocaust denial, which was banned in the country in 1990.

Erdogan lashed out at France during a joint news conference with Mustafa Abdul-Jalil — the chairman of Libya’s National Transitional Council saying there were reports that France was responsible for the deaths of 45,000 people in Algeria in 1945 and for the massacre of up to 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994.

“No historian, no politician can see genocide in our history,” Erdogan said. “Those who do want to see genocide should turn around and look at their own dirty and bloody history.”

“The French National Assembly should shed light on Algeria, it should shed light on Rwanda,” he said, in his first news conference since recovering from surgery three weeks ago.

France had troops in Rwanda, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame has accused the country of doing little to stop the country’s genocide.

There was no immediate reaction from France. Ties between the two countries are already strained by French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s opposition to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

Erdogan’s criticism comes a day after an official said the Turkish leader had written to Sarkozy warning of grave consequences if the Armenian genocide bill is adopted. A Turkish diplomat said Turkey would withdraw its ambassador to France is the law is passed.

“I hope that the [French Parliament] steps back from the error of misrepresenting history and of punishing those who deny the historic lies,” Erdogan said. “Turkey will stand against this intentional, malicious, unjust and illegal attempt through all kinds of diplomatic means.”

Erdogan called the proposed bill a “populist” act, suggesting it was aimed at winning the votes of Armenian-French in elections in France next year.

A Turkish parliamentary delegation is scheduled to travel to France on Sunday to lobby French legislators against the bill.

Turkey has long argued that parliaments should not be left the task of deciding whether the killings constituted genocide, insisting on the creation of a joint independent committee of historians to look into the events that started in 1915.

Several countries have recognized the killings as genocide, including Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Russia, Canada, Lebanon, Belgium, Greece, Italy, the Vatican, Switzerland, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania and Cyprus.

In 2007, a Swiss court convicted a Turkish politician under its anti-racism law and fined him for denying that the killings of Armenians was genocide. The case caused diplomatic tensions between Switzerland and Turkey.

via French Genocide Bill Infuriates Turkey : NPR.

December 19, 2011
Turkey slams France over genocide bill

Turkey’s prime minister on Saturday sharply criticized France for a bill that would make it a crime to deny the World War I-era mass killing of Armenians was genocide.

Saying France should investigate what he claimed was its own “dirty and bloody history’’ in Algeria and Rwanda, Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted Turkey would respond “through all kinds of diplomatic means.’’

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks as their Empire collapsed, an event many international experts regard as genocide and that France recognized as such in 2001. Turkish leaders reject the term, arguing that the toll is inflated, that there were deaths on both sides and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

On Dec. 22, the lower house of French Parliament will debate a proposal that would make denying that the massacre was genocide punishable by up to a year in prison and euro45,000 ($58,500) in fines, putting it on par with Holocaust denial, which was banned in the country in 1990.

Erdogan lashed out at France during a joint news conference with Mustafa Abdul-Jalil — the chairman of Libya’s National Transitional Council — saying there were reports that France was responsible for the deaths of 45,000 people in Algeria in 1945 and for the massacre of up to 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994.

“No historian, no politician can see genocide in our history,’’ Erdogan said. “Those who do want to see genocide should turn around and look at their own dirty and bloody history.’’

“The French National Assembly should shed light on Algeria, it should shed light on Rwanda,’’ he said, in his first news conference since recovering from surgery three weeks ago.

France had troops in Rwanda, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame has accused the country of doing little to stop the country’s genocide.

There was no immediate reaction from France. Ties between the two countries are already strained by French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s opposition to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

Erdogan’s criticism comes a day after an official said the Turkish leader had written to Sarkozy warning of grave consequences if the Armenian genocide bill is adopted. A Turkish diplomat said Turkey would withdraw its ambassador to France is the law is passed.

“I hope that the (French Parliament) steps back from the error of misrepresenting history and of punishing those who deny the historic lies,’’ Erdogan said. “Turkey will stand against this intentional, malicious, unjust and illegal attempt through all kinds of diplomatic means.’’

Erdogan called the proposed bill a “populist’’ act, suggesting it was aimed at winning the votes of Armenian-French in elections in France next year.

A Turkish parliamentary delegation is scheduled to travel to France on Sunday to lobby French legislators against the bill.

Turkey has long argued that parliaments should not be left the task of deciding whether the killings constituted genocide, insisting on the creation of a joint independent committee of historians to look into the events that started in 1915.

Several countries have recognized the killings as genocide, including Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Russia, Canada, Lebanon, Belgium, Greece, Italy, the Vatican, Switzerland, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania and Cyprus.

In 2007, a Swiss court convicted a Turkish politician under its anti-racism law and fined him for denying that the killings of Armenians was genocide. The case caused diplomatic tensions between Switzerland and Turkey.

via Turkey slams France over genocide bill – Boston.com.

December 18, 2011
French credit downgrade could come ‘within days’

Standard & Poor’s expected downgrade could create panic in the financial markets and make eurozone crisis even worse

Richard Wachman, City editor, Toby Helm and Kim Willsher

Standard and Poor's is expected to cut France's triple A credit rating 'within days' Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA

France could be stripped of its triple-A credit rating before Christmas, raising new doubts about the survival of the euro, analysts have predicted.

Standard & Poor’s – one of the three top rating agencies – is expected to cut France’s rating within days, in a move that would weaken its ability to raise funds on financial markets.

The move would raise doubts over the future of the single currency at a time when questions abound as to whether the deal thrashed out in Brussels represents the breakthrough hoped for in advance of the summit. Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Commons Treasury select committee, raised the spectre of Greece leaving the eurozone, saying it was unlikely Athens could afford to pay its way if it stayed in the zone. “Few people believe that Greece can remain solvent within the eurozone,” he said. “Should Greece have to leave, the recapitalisation of a number of continental banks would be necessary.”

David Cameron and George Osborne have stressed that their top priority is for the eurozone to survive the crisis because the consequences of a disorderly breakup would be devastating for the UK as well as the European economies. However, most Tory MPs now doubt that it can survive in its current form. Bill Cash, the veteran Eurosceptic MP, said: “The entire European Union project is unravelling as the euro itself unravels.”

The imminence of a ratings decision by S&P may explain why France has sought to deflect attention by lashing out against Britain, claiming the UK’s financial position is weaker than its own. Last week the Bank of France suggested the credit rating agencies train their fire on London, even though there seems no imminent danger of Britain losing its premier rating.

After days of angry exchanges between Paris and London, both sides called for a ceasefire. A senior British diplomatic source said: “I hope all this calms down soon, as it is not in anyone’s interest for it to continue. That, I believe, is why the French prime minister called Nick Clegg on Friday afternoon [to build bridges].”

The diplomat added: “We can only guess that what’s behind it is that they’re so nervous about losing the triple-A rating, nervous not just for political and economic reasons, but because there’s an election coming up.”

Analysts said that if France’s rating was slashed its borrowing costs would rise, making it more expensive for Paris to refinance its debt burden in the new year. A downgrade would also hit France’s ability to contribute to the European financial stability facility, set up by members of the eurozone to combat the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis, and provide emergency funding. Traders in London said the price France has to pay to borrow has already risen, indicating that markets have partially discounted the possibility of a lower credit rating.

France has to pay more to borrow relative to fellow triple-A rated Germany: when France borrows over 10 years it pays an interest rate that is at least a percentage point higher than what Berlin pays.

One analyst said: “The overall perception is that French finances are weaker than Germany’s and this imposes significant extra costs on France.”

Adding together repayments of existing debt, interest owed and new borrowing, France needs to find €400bn (£335bn) next year just to stay afloat. An extra 1% would cost French taxpayers €4bn a year. European leaders are under pressure to boost the firepower of the EU’s multibillion bailout package after Belgium’s credit rating was cut by Moody’s, another of the top three ratings agencies. Moody’s warned that indebted eurozone countries such as Belgium would find it increasingly hard to fund their debts or achieve economic growth in the face of Europe’s austerity drive. “The fragility of the sovereign debt markets is increasingly entrenched and unlikely to be reversed in the near future,” warned Moody’s.

Rival ratings agency Fitch said it could cut Belgium’s credit rating, along with those of Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Cyprus and Ireland. Fitch kept France’s AAA credit rating intact, although it revised its outlook for the country down to “negative”.

The latest credit rating changes came as the EU released details of the “fiscal compact” deal designed to rescue the euro.

www.guardian.co.uk, 17 December 2011

December 18, 2011