French Senate bill will not affect French-Turkish economic relations: ARF member

YEREVAN, January 24. /ARKA/. The bill passed by French Senate criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide would not have serious implications for economic relations between France and Turkey, a senior member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation/Dashnaktsutyun party, said today.

The French Senate voted yesterday to approve legislation making it a crime to deny that the mass killing of Armenians early last century was genocide. The bill, passed by a vote of 127-86, would make the offense punishable by as long as a year in prison and a 45,000-euro ($58,545) fine.

Speaking at a news conference, Karo Miroyan, head of ARF’s Hay Dat (Armenian Cause) office, said relations between France and Turkey will cool down in the coming days and weeks, as well as diplomatic relations will reduce, ‘but from an economic point of view, I think that Turkey can not do anything about it." 

According to him, France may lose contracts, but "it is unlikely to be as important for France as to succumb to Turkish threats."

Turkey froze political and military relations with France after its lower chamber’s December 22 vote criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide. Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened additional steps. 

He says president Nicolas Sarkozy’s governing party, which introduced the legislation, is using it to shore up public support before presidential elections in May. Sarkozy also opposes Turkey’s membership of the European Union.

About 20 nations including Greece, Canada and Russia, Turkey’s second-biggest trading partner after Germany, recognize the events as genocide. -0 -