Turkey withdraws envoy as denial bill passes French parliament
Turkish Ambassador to Paris Tahsin Burcuoğlu. (Photo: AA)
22 December 2011
Turkey has recalled its ambassador in Paris as the initial reaction against French Parliament approval on Thursday of a bill that penalized denial of Armenian genocide in France, a previously announced response to the possible approval of the bill.
Turkish Ambassador Tahsin Burcuoğlu has been recalled to Ankara for consultations for an indefinite period of time as Engin Solakoğlu, undersecretary of the Turkish Embassy in Paris, also said would happen last week. Despite strong protests by Turkey, French lawmakers in the National Assembly -- the lower house of Parliament -- voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill, which will now be debated next year in the Senate. The bill makes denial of the alleged Armenian genocide a crime punishable by a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros.
The approval of the bill has drawn strong condemnation from both the Turkish government and the opposition. In an immediate comment on the approval of the bill, Labor Minister Faruk Çelik said he sees the measure as pitiful. They assume that they can change historical facts with a law. This is a measure that is against all EU standards, norms and laws. I see this as pitiful, he told reporters in Parliament.
We will be taking gradual steps on sanctions [against France]. We will have three rounds of them, the first of which I will announce tomorrow, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Wednesday night, but Erdoğan had not announced the sanction roadmap when Today's Zaman went to print on Thursday. Erdoğan also called on President Nicolas Sarkozy's rival, the Socialist Party, to re-evaluate the step the ruling party took and correct the mistake in the Senate, so that relations can go back to their usual rhythm soon enough.
However, Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande made it clear earlier that his party was in favor of the denial bill when it was around in 2006 and would still display the same attitude this time around.
In response to questions regarding Sarkozys refusal to return Turkish President Abdullah Güls calls, Erdoğan called the development a diplomatic mishap on Wednesday. In international diplomacy, such mistakes and gaffes have no place. This is the type of act Sarkozy defines himself through, Erdoğan said, hinting that Sarkozy was prone to diplomatic failures.
Prior to the French vote, thousands of Turks gathered in downtown Paris to protest the French Parliament over the denial bill, a movement organized by hundreds of Turkish-French civil society organizations. Protestors interviewed by the Reuters news agency before the voting started told the agency that they regarded the vote as an attempt at censoring their freedom of expression, as they expressed their belief that such rhetoric emerged whenever elections were held in France.
Leaders of Turkish CSOs operating in France addressed the crowd, carrying Turkish flags and banners in front of Parliament, calling them to not only scream about it but return the betrayal of the lawmakers at the ballot box, the Cihan news agency reported on Tuesday. The Turkish protestors started gathering in front of Parliament early in the morning, with thousands coming from different cities. In protest of the bills passage by Parliament, a large crowd also gathered in front of the French Embassy in Ankara, blocking road access to passing cars and waving placards that urged reaction against the bill. As Parliament moved to vote on the bill around lunchtime Thursday, outside Parliament were Turks and Armenians, who were under strong police surveillance to interfere in case of any disturbances.
Turkish officials earlier this week had called on all parties, the French, Turkish and Armenian communities to react to the denial bill, saying that it defied basic human rights and violated freedom of expression, a value France championed on the international stage centuries ago. Turkish Armenians reacted en masse to the bill, saying that France was abusing their pain for political reasons and expressing belief that the French Parliament was not concerned with the genocide, but was after the political benefits they could reap.
Turks reaction to the French Parliament was also in relation to the date of the voting, Dec. 22, which marks the 32nd anniversary of the death of Turkish diplomat Yılmaz Çolpan, murdered by Armenian terrorist organization Asala in Paris. Asala claimed responsibility for the diplomats death, saying that they would continue to kill Turkish diplomats one by one to avenge for the death of their ancestors in Turkey.
Turkish EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bağış claimed on Thursday that it was a matter of honor for a country to protect its foreign citizens and that France owed Turkey a historical apology for not being able to protect Çolpan, as well as many other diplomats who were killed in France by terrorism at other times. How sad it is that we have to waste our time dealing with the effects of a bill discussed in French Parliament, right on the day we are commemorating Yılmaz Çolpan and feeling the pain of his loss, a written statement issued by Bağışs office said. Bağış further stressed that France never issued an apology for not being able to protect Çolpan and a number of other Turkish diplomats and was engaged in an agenda of a different type of political abuse, referring to the genocide denial bill Parliament forwarded to the French Senate for a final vote.
Last week, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu made a similar reference to the timing of the French vote, saying the move came at a significant time. On the same day Çolpan was murdered, French Parliament is attempting to pass a bill, as if delivering a message to the terrorists who martyred him, almost proving them right, Davutoğlu spoke last Sunday at a Konya meeting and raised doubts about the motives of the French move.
In response to Turkish warning that trade ties would sink with France following the denial bill vote, Turkey is a democracy and has joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) so it cant just discriminate for political reasons against countries, Europe Minister Jean Leonetti was quoted by Reuters as telling France Inter radio. I think these threats are just hot wind, and we [have] to begin a much more reasoned dialogue, Leonetti said.
In 2001, France recognized the so-called genocide, creating a crisis between Turkey and France, as French export levels dropped by 40 percent in the aftermath, as international media speculated that it was Ankaras unofficial messages that discouraged Turkish companies from getting involved in business deals with their French counterparts. When a similar denial bill was brought to Parliament in 2006, Turkey froze military relations with the country and suspended over flight rights, but the 2006 bill was dropped earlier this year by the French Senate.
The disputed genocide of 1915 has been a matter of a fuming discussion between Turks and Armenians, as Armenians claim that Ottoman Turks carried out a systematic and mass murder of Armenians with the aim of eradicating them in the country. Turks say the Armenians were deported when they took up arms against the state at a time of chaos as the Ottoman Empire crumbled and modern day Turkeys founders were fighting a political and armed war against foreign forces that tried to take over the country. Most of the casualties occurred when deported Armenians were not able to survive on the road to their destinations under extreme circumstances, as Armenians raise allegations that the deaths were intentional.
Turkey withdraws envoy as denial bill passes French parliament
Cares about Armenians, Palestinians. When it comes to Uygurs same Holy man prefer to ignore. Shame, shame, shame 
