www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Armenian genocide

And these are the people that want to join the EU.

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_world_2229785_16/10/2006_75429

Chirac says sorry to Turkey for Armenia genocide bill
Many Turks see French vote as bid to undermine Ankara�s EU ambitions

Reuters
Photo: Turkish riot police prepare to move in as some of the right-wing protesters gesture to calm their colleagues in Istanbul yesterday. Chirac has told Erdogan he was sorry French lawmakers approved a bill making it a crime to deny Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks.

By Paul de Bendern - Reuters

ANKARA - French leader Jacques Chirac has told Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan he is sorry French lawmakers approved a bill making it a crime to deny Armenians were victims of genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks.

�Chirac called me and told me he was sorry and he said that he is listening to our statements and he thinks we are right and he will do what he can in the upcoming process,� he told his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in broadcast comments during a dinner on Saturday.

France is home to Europe�s largest Armenian diaspora.

Turkey denies any genocide, saying the Armenians were victims of a partisan war that also claimed many Muslim Turkish lives. Turkey accuses Armenians of carrying out massacres while siding with invading Russian troops during World War I.

The French president�s office did not comment when contacted about Chirac�s call to Erdogan on Saturday morning.

Erdogan, facing a rise in nationalism ahead of next year�s parliamentary elections, warned on Friday that Ankara was considering retaliatory measures against France.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul repeated the government�s call for France to scrap the bill, which has complicated Turkey�s European Union accession bid.

�We are worried. Turkish-French relations have been very deeply wounded. I hope that French politicians and statesmen will see this and will take the necessary measure to prevent further damage to France�s credibility,� Gul told reporters.

French businesses fear the bill will have repercussions for their business in Turkey, a fast-growing market which imported 4.7 billion euros� worth of French goods in 2005.

About 100 people protested outside the French Consulate in Istanbul yesterday, throwing eggs at the building.

Immediately after Thursday�s vote, the French Foreign Ministry said it did not support the lower house bill, calling it �unnecessary and untimely� and indicating it might never become law as it still needed to be ratified by both the upper house Senate and French president.

France is believed to be home to the largest Armenian immigrant community in Western Europe, with up to half a million people of Armenian descent living there.

They make up a powerful political lobby which cannot be overlooked just seven months ahead of a presidential election.

However, some Turks think French politicians have a broader agenda and are using the bill to try to block Ankara�s EU bid.

Chirac and the two leading candidates to replace him in polls due next May - Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal - all say Ankara must accept the genocide before joining the bloc.

The European Commission has said that recognition of the genocide was not a precondition for Turkey entering the EU.

Politics to loom in Pamuk�s Nobel speech

BERLIN (AFP) - Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish author who has won this year�s Nobel prize for literature, plans to use his acceptance speech to explain his views on several subjects, German magazine Der Spiegel said yesterday.

Pamuk told the news weekly he was preparing �a thought piece in the good European tradition� for delivery when he accepts the award from Sweden�s King Carl XVI Gustaf in Stockholm on December 10.

�For the moment I am thinking of making it in the form of an essay,� the author said.

�I plan to use the opportunity to put across my point of view on several issues,� he added, but declined to reveal the content of the speech.

Pamuk, 54, on Thursday became the first Turkish writer to win the prestigious prize.

The politically outspoken author, whose books focus on Turkey�s struggle between Islam and secularism and its ties to Europe, has clashed frequently with the Turkish establishment.

While the Armenian genocide is obvious and unquestionable, I find it rather frightening that in a modern Western country it would be judged a crime to say that anything in history didn't happen.

That's seriously roping in freedom of speech. AFAIK, it's not a crime in the United States to deny the Holocaust ever happened, and certainly I don't think it should be, though it is a dispicable thing to say.

Logos Teen

Dear Logos Teen,

They have a law in France saying that denouncing the Jewish holocaust is a crime. If the law holds for one, then it should hold for another.

As for the Turks, the Roumanians recently accepted that they were guilty of helping the Nazi's in committing attrocities against the Jews. Now why can't the Turks simply admit they did commit the crimes. :rolleyes:

Yes, there were reasons the situation evolved to the point of genocide, (there always is), but regardless, the genocide did occur. I notice the Turks are in Bosnia taking part in looking for bodies in the genocide committed by the Serbs. Quite small in comparison to that of the Armenians, and no doubt the amount would be intentionally exagerated by the Turks, but I guess that genocide's a different story to them.

Zenovia

Well, at the risk of sounding anti-Turkish, the Turks don't make much sense to me, so I wouldn't even suggest trying to figure them out.

I guess it comes down to the fact that they're human and they naturally deny their part in such a horrible atrocity, unlike some other recent oppressors, like the Germans, who've stood up and admitted what they've done and taken steps to ensure they don't go down the same road again.

And, yeah, I guess if one's illegal (i.e., denying the Holocaust), the other should be too, just for consistency's sake, but my point is that neither should be illegal and that both are a gross violation of free speech...but then again I'm American and I love my darn free speech!

Logos Teen