Turkey hails French senators' appeal

Turkey has hailed a motion by French legislators to halt a bill criminalizing denials of Armenian genocide claims after they produced the 60 signatures required to stop the draft from becoming law.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an extended “wholehearted thanks” to the French senators who appealed the law and voiced hope France’s Constitutional Council would quash the legislation.

“I have no doubt the Constitutional Council will eventually make an appropriate decision,” President Abdullah Gül said, adding that he was “not expecting the French from the very beginning to let their country be overshadowed” by the resolution.

Ankara had reacted furiously last week when the French Senate approved the law that penalizes anyone in France who denies the 1915 killings of Armenians amounted to genocide with jail time and a fine.

On Jan. 24 President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office brushed off angry threats of retaliation by Turkey and vowed to sign the bill into law within a fortnight.

But a left-wing group of senators said yesterday that they had gathered 76 signatures from colleagues opposed to the law. A group from the Lower House of Parliament had also gathered 65 signatures yesterday and had formally requested that the Constitutional Council examine the law.

Turkish officials were universal in welcoming the development. “The fact that the application was made with over 60 signatures from both houses [of the French Parliament] is a significant development. I extend my wholehearted thanks to those French parliamentarians on behalf of myself and my nation. They did what they were supposed to do. I hope that the Constitutional Council will rectify this unjust process and bring it in line with the values of France,” Erdo?an said.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu also hailed the French senators’ move, saying that with this step France embraced its own values.

Turkish EU Minister Egemen Ba???, meanwhile, said yesterday that “freedom of expression is one of the most important features in the EU acquis.” Ba??? also noted European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle’s remarks about the French resolution in which Füle said illuminating history was the business of historians, not politicians.

/Hurriyet Daily News/