Israel Matzav

Turkey freezes all ties with France

On Thursday, the lower house of the French parliament passed a bill making it a crime punishable by one year in jail to deny any genocide. That includes the Armenian genocide committed by the Turks between 1915-18, and Turkey reacted with predictable seething and rage (Hat Tip: Will).

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday a bill passed by France's lower house of parliament, making it a crime to deny genocide, was racist, discriminatory and xenophobic and said it had opened wounds with Paris that would be difficult to heal.

Erdogan said Turkey was cancelling all economic, political and military meetings with NATO partner France and said Ankara would cancel permission for French military planes to land and warships to dock in Turkey as a result of the bill.

That's even more than the steps they've taken against Israel (so far).

Let's go to the videotape.



The BBC adds:

Under the bill, those publicly denying genocide would face a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros (£29,000: $58,000).

Armenians say up to 1.5m people were killed by the Ottoman Turks in 1915-16.

Ankara says closer to 300,000 people died, and that Turks were also killed as Armenians rose up against the Ottoman Empire when Russian troops invaded eastern Anatolia, now eastern Turkey.

More than 20 countries have formally recognised the killings as genocide.

...

Turkish TV announced the recall of the country's envoy in response to the bill.

Ambassador Tahsin Burcuoglu will leave France on Friday and further measures will be announced in Turkey by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Turkish embassy spokesman confirmed for French news agency AFP.

Earlier, Turkey's main political parties issued a joint statement condemning the bill, saying it "denigrates Turkish history", and there have been protests outside the French embassy in the Turkish capital, Ankara.

CNN adds:

"We are reviewing our relations with France," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after the French National Assembly passed the so-called Armenian genocide bill. "We will take our measures phase by phase depending on France's behavior from now on.

Erdogan said Turkey is recalling its Paris ambassador for consultations to Ankara, is canceling bilateral visits, and won't cooperate with France in joint projects within the European Union.

"We are stopping all kinds of political consultations with France. We are canceling bilateral military activities and joint exercises from now on. We are canceling the permission granted annually for all military overflights, landings and take-offs. We are starting permission process for every military flight individually. From today on, we are rejecting the permission requests of military ships to visit ports. We will not attend and held the bilateral Turkey-France joint economic and trade partnership committee meeting that was planned for January 2012 under the co-chairmanship of the economy ministers of the two countries," Erdogan said.

"I am underlining this. This is the first phase."

Another Turkish Temper Tantrum.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Armenian genocide, France, Turkey

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:44 AM