Turkey scraps French satellite deal

A tank on patrol in Armenia

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey has scrapped a $149 million deal with a French firm to launch a spy satellite after France recognised as genocide the slaughter of Armenians.

The cancellation of the project was taken in reaction to last week's declaration by the lower house of France's National Assembly to categorise the killings carried out by the Ottoman Empire, which preceded modern-day Turkey, as the extermination of a race.

Turkish Defence Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu said the deal with France's Alcatel was scrapped in response to "undeserved allegations against Turkey."

Alcatel had signed an agreement in principle to build and launch Turkey's first remote sensing satellite by 2003, but had yet to sign a final deal.

"We have cancelled the tender concerning the spy satellite project," Cakmakoglu said.

The French declaration last week outraged Turkey, which immediately recalled its ambassador to France.

Turks protested outside French diplomatic missions in Ankara and Istanbul, while several trade groups called for a boycott of French goods.

Cakmakoglu said France's Giat Industries, which builds the Leclerc tank, would be excluded from a $7 billion military tender.

CNN Turk correspondent Tayfun Ertan said Turkey is still hoping French President Jacques Chirac may go to the French constitutional court and ask for the Armenian Bill to be declared unconstitutional.

Ertan said if such a move is not forthcoming further sanctions could be imposed on France.

Armenians say 1.5 million of their people died in an Ottoman Empire campaign to force them from eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1923.

Turkey says the death count is inflated, and that Armenians were killed or displaced as the Ottoman Empire tried to quell civil unrest. Modern-day Turkey was founded in 1923.

The U.S. House of Representatives held off a similar resolution last year after then-President Clinton warned it could seriously damage relations with Turkey.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Alcatel
Giat Industries
French Foreign Ministry
Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Parliament of Armenia

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