Europe

Europe

Turkish parliament criticizes France over controversial Armenian resolution

20 December 2011 22:59 (UTC +04:00)

"It is a grave and a historic mistake for the French National Assembly to agree to debate a biased, unjust and false bill that penalizes rejecting so-called Armenian genocide. We condemn the prospective debate of the bill which hurts Turkish people deeply," Meral Aksener, a deputy speaker of the Turkish parliament, was quoted as reading a declaration in the Turkish capital Ankara.

Turkeyâ€™s President Abdullah Gul also urged France Tuesday to give up voting on the bill and leave the writing of history to historians, saying "it is impossible for Turkey to accept the bill. "

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has rejected the attempt as a pre- election campaign move, according to the Anatolia report.

Meanwhile, head of the Turkey-European Union Joint Parliament Commission Afif Demirkiran sent letters to 74 members of the European Parliament with French origin, saying possible enactment of the resolution will "hamper efforts to normalize Turkish- Armenian relations" and "harm Turkish-French interests.

The French parliament is expected to vote on the bill Thursday.

If the resolution were adopted, those who deny genocide claims would face a one-year prison term and 45,000 euros (59,040 U.S. dollars) of fine, according to media reports.

Turkey and Armenia have had no diplomatic or economic ties since Armenia declared independence in 1991. The two countries have been bogged down in a dispute over the World War I-era deaths of Armenians under the Ottoman rule. Armenia says the deaths occurred in "genocide," while Turkey denies the charge and insists that the Armenians were victims of widespread chaos and governmental breakdown as the Ottoman Empire collapsed before modern Turkey was created.

Turkey and Armenia signed protocols to normalize their relations and open borders last year, but the pacts need to be approved by both countriesâ€™ parliaments before taking effect.