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Turkish PM again slams France

Türkiye Materials 31 December 2011 20:37 (UTC +04:00)
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a televised national address and made remarks on France's approval of a bill penalizing the denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide", TRT English reported.
Turkish PM again slams France

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a televised national address and made remarks on France's approval of a bill penalizing the denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide", TRT English reported.

Warning France regarding its latest move on the bill, Erdogan said "We can not allow any country to exploit feelings in order to win an election by belittling Turkey."

Premier renewed his call to open the historical archives.

"We will unveil our planned measures step by step against France according to the process that the Armenian bill will go through. We don't intend to cover anything up. We are against the distortion of historical facts, not clarification of them."

Last week, the French parliament adopted a bill criminalizing denial of the so-called "Armenian Genocide".

A member of the French president's party, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) which has the parliamentary majority, presented the bill to the legislative committee of the National Assembly earlier this month.

Some 45 out of 577 French MPs participated in the voting, 38 of which voted for, while 7 voted against the adoption of the bill.

The bill envisages about one year imprisonment and a fine worth 45,000 euros for denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide".

Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that the predecessor of Turkey - Ottoman Empire had committed the 1915 genocide against the Armenians living in Anadolu and to date has achieved recognition of the "Armenian Genocide" by the parliaments of some countries.

Erdogan also issued a warning on the Syrian crisis and said Turkey's sensitivity on the crisis is not based on interests but humanitarian concerns. "We will continue to put forth our reaction until Syrian administration halts violence and steps down only to be replaced by people's true will", he said.

The premier pointed to the sectarian diversity in Iraq, saying that this is a dangerous process and all sides in the country must act with moderation.

On democratization and terror, Erdogan said Turkey will not step back from democratization efforts.

Prime Minister Erdogan also made remarks on the performance of Turkish economy amid a global financial crisis and said Turkey is among the fastest growing economies in the world at a time when growth rates are slowing down in many other countries.

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