Turkey’s pulling ambassador from France habitual – ARFD member

PanARMENIAN.Net - ARF Dashnaktsutyun Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office Director commented on Turkey’s pulling ambassador to Paris over French National Assembly’s adoption of a bill penalizing Armenian Genocide denial.

“Turkey has been periodically recalling its ambassador to France starting from 1970s,” Kiro Manoyan told a news conference in Yerevan.

“Any Genocide-related action in France habitually sparks Turkey’s outrage,” the politician said.

“I believe passions will run high by the time the bill goes before the French Senate, however, after a time, Turks will forget all about the tensions like they did before,” Manoyan remarked.

On December 22, French National Assembly passed the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial. The vote followed the December 7 decision by the Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly to adopt the bill introduced by MP Valerie Boyer (UMP). The draft law envisages a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros for those who publicly deny the Armenian Genocide in France.

Turkey's ambassador to Paris returned to Ankara for consultations December 23 following the vote by the French parliament.