After wooing Turkey, Jack shacks up with Christian Armenia and dumps Muslim Turkey. Welcome to France's faithless multipolar soap opera, where unilateral French pronouncements provide policy and surprises for all.

Should Turkey recognize the Armenian genocide to join the EU? Honestly, I believe so. Each country grows by acknowledging its past dramas and errors.

Jack.
on a state visit giving the Armenian people their money's worth
October 3, 2006 (The New Anatolian)

France, in the person of Jack, does not feel obliged to consult with EU peers about details. Then again, Jack wouldn't want to be seen as shiving Turkey on his lonesome. No, Jack only offers friendly advice. He has left the shiving to the domestic opposition.

Which brings us round to the controversial proposition de LOI N° 1021.

The Armenian genocide bill was cooked up by the Socialist opposition. Jack's party, L'UMP (Union pour la majorité presidentielle), and affiliated parties hold a majority in the Assemblée nationale over the opposition parties, 399/178. The government (Dom and Henri Cuq, the Minister of relationships with Parliament) had opportunites to quash the bill by excluding it from the legislative agenda, yet it came to a vote. L'UMP then gave its deputies free leash to vote the bill as they pleased. The bill's critics announced they would sit out Thursday's vote protesting it was a forgone conclusion. Fully 81% of the deputies of the presidential coalition failed to vote. This effectively ensured the bill's passage (neatly confirming the critic's prediction), which is an odd way to sanction legislation.

But here's the kicker -- passage was not along party lines as one might expect. One hundred twenty-nine deputies voted. The presidential parties voted: 56 for (45% of the vote)/ 17 against (14%)/4 abstentions (0%). The opposition parties voted: 46 for (36.5% of the vote)/ 2 against (1.5%); unaffiliated parties: 4 for (3%). The presidential parties cast 59% of the overall vote. Had the voting presidential coalition voted the purported presidential position the bill would not have passed. Had the presidential coalition showed up to vote in its entirety the bill would not have passed.

But Jack's not fooling anyone, passage suits him just fine.

CHIRAC SAYS SORRY TO TURKEY FOR BILL: ERDOGAN
ANKARA October 15, 2006 (WaPo/Reuters)

SPEAKER ARINC: CHIRAC'S APOLOGY WAS NOT GENUINE
ANKARA October 17, 2006 (Hürriyet)

FRENCH SOCIALISTS CHIDE CHIRAC FOR 'GENOCIDE’ BILL APOLOGY

ANKARA October 17, 2006 (Turkish Daily News) - "It is disappointing that he (Chirac) apologized over parliamentary work," Didier Migaud, deputy from the Socialist Party, was quoted as saying in an interview with French daily Le Parisien.

"It is easier to talk about genocide in Yerevan, rather than in France,” Migaud said. “We see in this case [that] being a statesman goes beyond human rights."

[Speaker of the Turkish Parliament] Bülent Arınç, speaking to reporters on the occasion of the opening of the new legislative year, harshly criticized the French bill and said, “This bill explains why Armenians carried out their biggest terrorist acts in France.”

Arınç added: "It has turned out that it is not a coincidence. Our ambassadors, diplomats in Paris became victims of Armenian terrorism several times."

Asked whether he considered the French president to be sincere in his remarks during the telephone conversation with Erdoğan, Arınç said: "There is no need to ask whether he is sincere or not. Even if you ask, not the parliamentary speaker, but a child on the street the meaning of what they did, you'll get the answer."

FRANCE REITERATES COMMITMENT TO TURKEY TIES
The French Government Pledges To Maintain Its Opposition
To The Bill Throughout Rest Of The Enactment Process

ANKARA October 19, 2006 (Turkish Daily News) - The French government reiterated yesterday that it was committed to good relations with Turkey after passage of a bill in the National Assembly that criminalizes denial of the alleged genocide of Armenians in the beginning of the last century by the Ottomans.

PFFT (What is this?): Faithless France 4½ | Rayonnement français 0