Sarkozy Asks Erdogan for 'Reason, Dialogue' in Genocide Row
French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged "reason and dialogue" in the row with Turkey on the Armenian genocide, in a letter to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seen by Agence France Presse Friday.
"I hope we can make reason prevail and maintain our dialogue, as befits allied and friendly countries," Sarkozy wrote after Erdogan's government reacted strongly to a bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian genocide under Ottoman Turkish rule, which the French Senate will debate on Monday.
In the letter, released by the French embassy in Ankara, Sarkozy also said the bill, which has already been approved by the lower house of parliament, "is in no way aimed at any state or people in particular."
He expressed the wish that Turkey "assess the common interests which unite our two countries and our two peoples."
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday that Ankara expects Sarkozy, his party, and the French Senate "to respect European values before anything else."
"Those who exploit history will themselves suffer from this exploitation," he warned in televised remarks.
"We invite each French senator to stop for a while and think beyond all political interests," Davutoglu told the press.
"If the bill passes, it will remain as a black stain in France's intellectual history. And we will always remind them of this black stain," he said.
The bill threatens with jail anyone who denies that the World War I massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide, drawing a threat of sanctions from Turkey.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed in 1915 and 1916 by the forces of Turkey's former Ottoman Empire.
Turkey disputes the figure, arguing that only 500,000 died, and denies this was genocide, ascribing the toll to fighting and starvation during the war and accusing the Armenians of siding with Russian invaders.
France recognized the killings as a genocide in 2001, but the new bill would go further by punishing anyone who denies this with a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros ($57,000).
Source: Agence France Presse
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