Skip to main content

French National Assembly passes Armenian genocide bill

By the CNN Wire Staff
December 22, 2011 -- Updated 2324 GMT (0724 HKT)
French bill on Armenian 'genocide'
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: Erdogan says Turkey is reviewing ties with France
  • Turkish PM Erdogan threatens sanctions if the bill becomes law
  • The genocide issue regularly comes up in the U.S. Congress
  • The French Senate must vote on the measure now

Paris (CNN) -- Turkey is fuming over French legislation that would criminalize any public denial of what the bill calls the Armenian genocide last century in Ottoman Turkey.

"We are reviewing our relations with France," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after the French National Assembly passed the so-called Armenian genocide bill. "We will take our measures phase by phase depending on France's behavior from now on.

Erdogan said Turkey is recalling its Paris ambassador for consultations to Ankara, is canceling bilateral visits, and won't cooperate with France in joint projects within the European Union.

"We are stopping all kinds of political consultations with France. We are canceling bilateral military activities and joint exercises from now on. We are canceling the permission granted annually for all military overflights, landings and take-offs. We are starting permission process for every military flight individually. From today on, we are rejecting the permission requests of military ships to visit ports. We will not attend and held the bilateral Turkey-France joint economic and trade partnership committee meeting that was planned for January 2012 under the co-chairmanship of the economy ministers of the two countries," Erdogan said.

"I am underlining this. This is the first phase."

The bill -- applauded by Armenians -- must now be voted on by the country's senate. Erdogan said he hopes the French Senate will vote down the bill.

"New measures will come to the agenda depending on the progress of the bill in France and we will apply them with determination without any hesitation."

Armenian groups and many scholars argue that starting in 1915, Turks committed genocide, when more than a million ethnic Armenians were massacred in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire.

But modern-day Turkey officially denies that a genocide took place, arguing instead that hundreds of thousands of Armenian Christians and Muslim Turks died in intercommunal violence around the bloody battlefields of World War I.

The genocide debate is an annual source of tension between Turkey and the United States, two NATO military allies.

The White House annually beats back efforts in Congress to pass a resolution which would formally recognize the 1915 massacre of Armenians as genocide.

"The issue should be researched not by politicians, but by historians," Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek said.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told Turkish lawmakers Thursday that Turkey is a friend and ally of France and strives to maintain a dialogue.

Armenia's foreign minister, Edward Nalbandian, hailed the move, saying France "reconfirmed its high place of being the cradle of human rights and once again proved its commitment to universal human values."

"The French people showed that human rights are highest value, and today by adopting this bill," he said, indicating that crimes against humanity have no statute of limitations and deserve condemnation.

According to official Turkish statistics, the volume of trade between Turkey and France from January to the end of October this year was more than $13.5 billion.

CNN's Yesim Comert and Saskya Vandoorne contributed to this report

ADVERTISEMENT
Part of complete coverage on
May 25, 2012 -- Updated 0458 GMT (1258 HKT)
Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng tells CNN about his departure from China and his continuing concern for family and friends.
May 24, 2012 -- Updated 1739 GMT (0139 HKT)
Given recent headlines, you could easily assume something more dramatic than a singing competition was about to descend on Azerbaijan.
May 25, 2012 -- Updated 1213 GMT (2013 HKT)
Formula One's 12 teams have struck an agreement to secure the future of the sport until 2020, Bernie Ecclestone has exclusively told CNN.
May 26, 2012 -- Updated 2013 GMT (0413 HKT)
It was one small interview for astronaut Neil Armstrong ... and one giant scoop for an Australian accountant, of all people.
May 24, 2012 -- Updated 2136 GMT (0536 HKT)
Bastoy prison is on an island in southern Norway. There are no fences or armed guards, and inmates hold the keys to locks.
May 24, 2012 -- Updated 1336 GMT (2136 HKT)
Stars from Barcelona FC will be encouraging reading as part of a project to give one million digital books to African children.
May 25, 2012 -- Updated 0823 GMT (1623 HKT)
We have mixed in the Duke of Edinburgh's gaffes among other famous faux pas. Take our quiz and see how many of Philip's gaffes you can spot.
May 24, 2012 -- Updated 1534 GMT (2334 HKT)
The deadly clashes that are a fact of daily life in Syria have now bled into Lebanon, where sectarian shootouts are raising fears of an end to calm.
May 24, 2012 -- Updated 0746 GMT (1546 HKT)
Eva Wu has kept her teenage son's room unchanged ever since he died last year. Now, she also keeps him close in the form of a diamond.
May 25, 2012 -- Updated 0331 GMT (1131 HKT)
Demonstrators say Twitter posts and Facebook groups brought them to the streets of Mexico's capital and cities around the country.
May 26, 2012 -- Updated 0946 GMT (1746 HKT)
Ben Wedeman explains how much has changed since the last presidential election, but much remains the same.
May 22, 2012 -- Updated 1416 GMT (2216 HKT)
In Delhi, where there are more elephants than Mormons, Manu Joseph explores India's U.S. election-envy and why a Republican is better for India.
May 25, 2012 -- Updated 1149 GMT (1949 HKT)
The wheels are coming off the wagon, says Richard Quest -- and Greece's membership of the eurozone is untenable under the current conditions.
May 22, 2012 -- Updated 1428 GMT (2228 HKT)
Why some observers believe that the full story of who destroyed a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie has still to be uncovered.
ADVERTISEMENT