Turkey “agrees to restore ties with France after Genocide bill row”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey has agreed to restore all ties with France, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday, June 21 following a breakdown in relations last year prompted by a dispute over a bill criminalizing Armenian Genocide denial in France, Reuters reported.

Ankara canceled all economic, political and military meetings with Paris in December after France's lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of a draft law to make it illegal to deny the Genocide.

France's highest court overturned the law two months later but the Turkish measures taken against France, which included restrictions on French military aircraft and ships landing or docking on its territory, have remained in place.

Speaking live on Turkish television, Davutoglu said Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had ordered the sanctions be lifted after a positive meeting with France's new President Francois Hollande at a world summit in Brazil.

"The prime minister gave the necessary instructions after meeting with Hollande. Because of this new attitude from France, these sanctions will be dropped," Davutoglu said during an interview with news broadcaster CNN Turk.

Davutoglu said he would travel to Paris on July 5 for bilateral meetings where they would discuss taking additional "positive steps" in the future.