Erdogan: French Armenian 'genocide' bill racist

Turkey warned the French president on Tuesday against signing a law that makes it a crime to deny that the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago constituted genocide, saying it will implement retaliatory measures against France.

France's parliament approved the bill late Monday, risking more sanctions from Turkey and complicating an already delicate relationship with the rising power. Officials in President Nicolas Sarkozy's government insisted the vote didn't directly target the country.

Related stories:

• France passes Armenian 'genocide' bill
• Turkey accuses France of genocide
• Turkey accuses Sarkozy of breaking promise
  

Turkey, which sees the allegations of genocide as a threat to its national honor, has already suspended military, economic and political ties with Paris, and briefly recalled its ambassador last month when the lower house of parliament approved the same bill.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the bill was a result of "racist and discriminatory" attitude toward Turkey.

He warned that Turkey will slap new, unspecified sanctions against France if the bill is signed into a law.

"For us it is null and void," Erdogan said. "We still have not lost our hope that it can be corrected."

Turkey's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday strongly condemned the decision, saying the law should not be finalized to "avoid this being recorded as part of France's political, legal and moral mistakes."

Damage control mode

Sarkozy, whose party supported the bill, must sign it into law, but that is largely considered a formality.

If the law is signed, "we will not hesitate to implement, as we deem appropriate, the measures that we have considered in advance," Turkey's Foreign Ministry said. It did not elaborate on the measures.

The debate surrounding the measure comes in the highly charged run-up to France's presidential elections this spring, and critics have called the move a ploy by Sarkozy to garner the votes of the some 500,000 Armenians who live in France.

"It is further unfortunate that the historical ... relations between the Republic of Turkey and France have been sacrificed to considerations of political agenda," Turkey said. "It is quite clear where the responsibility for this lies."

Officials in Sarkozy's conservative government were in damage-control mode on Tuesday, appealing to Turkey's government to keep its calm.

"As foreign minister, I think this initiative was a bit inopportune. But the parliament has thus decided. What I'd like to do today is call on our Turkish friends to keep their composure," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Canal Plus TV.

"After this wave that has been a little bit excessive, I have to say I'm convinced that we will return to constructive relations I extend my hand, I hope it will be taken one day."

Turkish media slammed Sarkozy: "(He) massacred democracy," read the banner headline of the leading Hurriyet newspaper while the Sozcu daily blasted "Sarkozy the Satan."

France's relations with Turkey are already strained, in large part because Sarkozy opposes Turkey's entry into the European Union. The law is likely to further sour relations with a NATO member that is playing an increasingly important role in the international community's response to the violence in Syria, the standoff over Iran's nuclear program and peace negotiations in the Middle East.

• Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
  

• Receive Ynetnews updates directly to your desktop