Turkey’s businessmen and officials unite against bill in Paris

Turkish lawmakers as well as business leaders will put more pressure on Paris this week to block the passage of a bill punishing the denial of Armenian ‘genocide.’ Turkey’s main opposition party also plans to lobby against the bill, while Turkish PM Erdoğan calls on France to shed light on its ‘dirty, bloody history’  Turkish lawmakers and business leaders are preparing to run a full-court diplomatic press against France to prevent the adoption of a controversial law penalizing the denial of Armenian genocide claims.

A delegation led by Volkan Bozkır, head of Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee, will launch a three-day campaign in Paris today where he will express the Turkish legislature’s unease to French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and other senior French lawmakers and officials.
A vote on the bill is expected to take place Dec. 22.

Bozkır’s meeting will also include Jean-Marc Ayrault, head of the Socialist Group at the French Parliament, and Michel Diefenbacher, head of the Turkish-French Friendship Group. Bozkır will also meet French Parliament Speaker Bernard Accoyer and French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s foreign policy adviser, Jean-David Levitte, on Dec. 20.
Speaking in Konya at a meeting of the Reform Monitoring Group, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu slammed the bill and argued the European Union should start monitoring the “freedom of expression in France.” The minister appealed to French intellectuals and civic society to defend freedom of speech in the country, stressing “European values are under threat in France.”

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is also planning to send a delegation to Paris today. Osman Korutürk, a lawmaker from the CHP who was Turkey’s ambassador to France between 2005 and 2009, and Haluk Koç, will lobby against the bill in Paris.
France “will make another historical mistake” if it approves the bill, CHP deputy leader Faruk Loğoğlu said in New York on the sidelines of a meeting.

This week’s diplomatic campaign comes after the Turkish government warned France of serious repercussions should the law, which would entail a year-long jail sentence and a 45,000-euro fine for individuals who deny the genocide claims, be passed. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Parliamentary Speaker Cemil Çiçek sent letters late last week urging their counterparts to recognize that “there will be grave consequences if the bill is adopted.”

As well as lawmakers and diplomats, Turkey’s business leaders will unite against the bill in Paris this week. Representatives of the influential Union of Chambers of Commodity Exchange of Turkey (TOBB) and the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) will hold meetings with their counterparts in Paris today and ask them to stand against the bill to prevent any damage to economic ties. Turkish business leaders will visit top French business associations like the Medef and ICC.

“There are 960 French companies who have investments in Turkey. We have mobilized them against the bill with concerns the motion will damage their investments,” TOBB Chairman Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said over the weekend.

A TOBB board member also warned the adoption of the bill would result in an entire boycott of French products in Turkey. “If this law is adopted, it will have consequences not only in political and economic fields, but also in scientific, social, cultural and humanitarian dimensions,” Mustafa Yardımcı said in a written statement yesterday.


/Hurriyet Daily News/