Turkey calms response to vote by French Assembly about Armenian Massacre
Despite threats of retaliatory action and national anger, Turkey appears to be stepping back from a prolonged clash with France over a French parliamentary bill on the 90-year-old Armenian massacres.
"The focus is on limiting the damage" after the French National Assembly voted on Thursday to make any denial of the Ottoman mass killings of Armenians a punishable offense, according to one diplomatic report.
France's leading politicians, including President Jacques Chirac and his rivals, are on record in favor of keeping Turkey out of the European Union unless it admits the massacres as genocide.
However, the French political class generally has remained lukewarm following the decision by the lower house of Parliament, influenced by the vocal Armenian lobby.
Read entire article at Washington Times
"The focus is on limiting the damage" after the French National Assembly voted on Thursday to make any denial of the Ottoman mass killings of Armenians a punishable offense, according to one diplomatic report.
France's leading politicians, including President Jacques Chirac and his rivals, are on record in favor of keeping Turkey out of the European Union unless it admits the massacres as genocide.
However, the French political class generally has remained lukewarm following the decision by the lower house of Parliament, influenced by the vocal Armenian lobby.