Dialogue is always possible.

Jean-Baptiste Mattei,
porte-parole du ministère des Affaires étrangères,
expressing an eternal French diplomatic tenet
PARIS October 10, 2006 (IHT/AP)

TURKEY WARNS FRANCE OVER 'GENOCIDE' BILL

October 7, 2006 (Scotsman) - Turkey told France yesterday a draft bill that would punish anyone who denied that Ottoman Turkish forces carried out systematic genocide of Armenians during the First World War would seriously damage relations.

EXPLOITING "GENOCIDE" TO CUT TURKEY FROM EU
BİA, Turkey October 11, 2006 (bianet)

L'ASSEMBLÉE NATIONALE ADOPTE LA PROPOSITION
DE LOI SANCTIONNANT LA NÉGATION DU GÉNOCIDE ARMÉNIEN
[THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PASSES BILL
PUNISHING DENIAL OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE]

12 octobre 2006 (Le Monde) - Les députés ont adopté, jeudi 12 octobre, par 106 voix contre 19, une proposition de loi socialiste qui vise à sanctionner la négation du génocide arménien de 1915. Les groupes PS et PCR ont voté pour, de même que des élus UMP et UDF. Ces deux derniers groupes avaient laissé la liberté de vote à leurs membres. Faute de pouvoir arrêter une position commune, l'UMP avait décidé de "ne pas participer" au scrutin. Pour être définitivement adopté par le Parlement, le texte doit être maintenant examiné par le Sénat.

... Le gouvernement a exprimé en vain son opposition. "Le gouvernement a déjà exprimé sa position sur cette proposition de loi, le 18 mai dernier, il n'en a pas varié : il n'est pas favorable" à ce texte, a dit Catherine Colonna, ministre déléguée aux affaires européennes.

La ministre a rappelé l'existence de la loi de janvier 2001 "qui s'impose à tous". "Pourquoi dans ces conditions en faudrait-il une nouvelle [loi]", a-t-elle poursuivi avant d'affirmer que le texte "risque d'avoir des effets contraires à ceux recherchés". Enfin, le gouvernement, a dit Catherine Colonna, "a de réels doutes sur l'opportunité de cette proposition". "Il appartient d'abord et avant tout aux historiens et non au législateur d'éclairer l'Histoire."

[Thursday October 12, deputies passed, 106-19,* a socialist bill that seeks to punish the denial of the 1915 Armenian genocide. The PS and PCR blocks voted for, the same UMP and UDF deputies. These latter two blocks had left the vote open to their members. Unable to stop a joint position, UMP had decided "not to participate" in the ballot. For final passage by the Parliament, the text must now be considered by the Senate.

... The government expressed its opposition in vain. "The government already expressed its position on this bill, last May 18, it has not changed: it is not favorable" to this text, said Catherine Colonna, minister delegate to European affairs.

The minister recalled the existence of the law of January 2001 [LOI n°2001-70] "which is binding on all". "Why under these circumstances does one need a new (law)", she pressed before claiming the text "is likely to have opposite effects than those sought". Lastly, she said the government "has real doubts about the appropriateness of this proposal. ... It belongs first and above all to the historians and not to the legislator to clarify History."]

EU RAISES CONCERNS OVER FRENCH ARMENIA BILL

BRUSSELS October 12, 2006 (Reuters) - The European Union said French parliament approval on Thursday of a bill making it a crime to deny Armenians suffered genocide by Ottoman Turks could harm efforts to end decades of dispute over the killings. ... A European Commission spokeswoman noted the bill still needed upper house approval and said EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn had repeatedly warned in recent days it would damage efforts in Turkey and Armenia to resolve the dispute.

"Should this law enter into force ... it would prohibit dialogue which is necessary for reconciliation on the issue," spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy told a regular news conference.

Asked whether the bill could add a stumbling block to difficult accession talks with Ankara opened just over a year ago, she noted recognition of the 1915 killings as a genocide was not a precondition for accession.

But earlier this month in Armenia, Jack, in fact, claimed just such a precondition. This is not the first time the French have invented their own protocols for Turkey.

We have followed France's clammy support of Turkey's EU ascension (here, here, here, and the above link). France has certainly fallen out of love with its commitments to Turkey, but the current government can't admit a change of heart that also admits a failure of policy. Instead France keeps presenting smaller and smaller hoops for Turkey to jump, squeeze, and wriggle through.

Whether given Europa's identity crisis, its lack of a comprehensive constitutional establishment, its members' fiscal indiscipline, and the drift of the greater Muslim world, Turkey's ascension is a good idea, well, that is between Europa and Turkey. All we would expect (and we imagine the Turks also) is that the procession be fair, promises made be kept, and that diplomacy be frank and honest.

It's a sure bet that should Sarko ascend, Turkey will be out -- without the pretense of hoops.

SARKOZY: TURKEY'S EU ENTRY WOULD END POLITICAL EUROPE

PARIS October 6, 2006 (MEO) - "Turkey is in Asia Minor... I will not explain to little French school children that the frontiers of Europe are Iraq and Syria," Sarkozy said, naming two of Turkey's southeastern neighbours.

If the EU accepts Turkey, "we will have made the Kurdish problem a European problem. Wonderful!" he said, apparently referring to the bloody conflict between Turkish authorities and militants demanding self-rule for the country's ethnic Kurdish population. Once the Kurdish issue is admitted as a European problem, "it remains to make Hamas and Hezbollah European problems" too, he argued, referring to the Palestinian governing party and the Lebanon-based Shiite militant movement.

... "We have a problem of integration of Muslims which raises the issue of Islam in Europe. To say it is not a problem is to hide from reality. If you let 100 million Turkish Muslims come in, what will come of it?" [Le Meilleur des Mondes magazine] quoted him as saying.

* Less than a quarter (22%) of the 577 deputies.

PFFT (What is this?): Go away, we don't love you anymore 4 | Rayonnement français 0