Turkey's ties with France unravel over Armenia dispute

Ankara lashes back over law on Armenia
November 15, 2006
The Associated Press
ANKARA:

Turkey has suspended military relations with France in a dispute over whether the mass killings of Armenians in the last century amounted to genocide, the land forces commander said Wednesday.

The move was the latest backlash against French legislation that, if approved by the French Senate and president, would criminalize denial that the World War I-era killings of Armenians in Turkey were genocide.

France and Turkey, both NATO members, have previously had close military ties, and Turkey has been a buyer of French-made weaponry. But the Turkish military has also blacklisted several French companies in the past in similar disputes over the mass killings of Armenians.

Basbug, announced the suspension to reporters at a reception in Ankara, according to the state-owned Anatolia news agency. The lower house of the French Parliament approved the genocide-denial legislation in October.

"Relations with France in the military field have been suspended," Anatolia quoted Basbug as saying. Asked whether there had been any cancellation of military visits, Basbug said: "There are no high-level visits between the two countries."

Turkey sees the French bill as a hostile, anti-Turkish move, and has said that the lawmakers' vote has already deeply harmed Turkish-French relations. The French bill still needs the approval of the upper house and the signature of President Jacques Chirac to become law.

Turkey vehemently denies that it committed genocide against Armenians, though many nations have classified the killings as such.

Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died in mass expulsions and fighting, but says the number of dead is exaggerated and that most were killed in ethnic conflicts as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

Armenians and many nations say about 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a genocidal campaign devised and carried out by Turkish leaders.

The European Union and the European media have criticized the French bill, saying it is not in line with the principle of free expression and does not promote dialogue with Turkey, which wants to join the EU. The United States also criticized the bill, saying that it got in the way of Turkish-Armenian dialogue.

The Armenian issue is one of the most divisive and emotional in Turkey. Those who classify the killings as genocide are often accused of treason.

EU rebuffed over Cyprus

Turkey will not succumb to European Union "blackmail" in the dispute over the divided island of Cyprus and its bearing on Ankara's prospects of joining the bloc, the Turkish foreign minister said Wednesday, according to The Associated Press and Reuters in Nicosia.

The EU has told Turkey it must open its seaports and airports to ships and planes from Cyprus to avoid a breakdown in EU membership talks, but Ankara does not recognize the government of Cyprus.

"We won't bow to blackmail, in the same way that we did not bow to blackmail in the past," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul of Turkey said in a speech on the Turkish Cypriot side of the island's capital, Nicosia.

Cyprus has been split between the Greek Cypriot south - whose government is recognized by the international community - and the Turkish Cypriot north since 1974, when Turkish forces invaded in response to an attempted coup by military officers who were trying to unite the island with Greece. Only Ankara recognizes the Turkish-run north.

On another issue that has clouded Turkey's ties to the EU, meanwhile, officials said Wednesday in Ankara that it planned to amend a law that the EU asserts curbs freedom of expression in time for an EU summit meeting in December.

The law, Article 301, which makes it a crime to insult "Turkishness," has been used by nationalists to prosecute writers and intellectuals, although most cases have ended in acquittals. The Justice Ministry is exploring new forms of wording that would make it more difficult for politically motivated lawyers to open cases.

Turkey has warned the EU not to try to arbitrate in the dispute, saying the 25- nation bloc could not help secure a balanced solution because Cyprus is already one of its members.

Gul said that the United Nations should play the role of mediator. "To expect concessions from Turkey by moving the question from the United Nations to the EU is a dead-end road," Gul said.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.