Turkey slams Franch genocide bill as racist

The measure, approved by a vote of 127 to 85 in the French Senate, makes it an offence punishable by jail to deny that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide, drawing ire from Turkey.Turkey vowed to impose unspecified sanctions against Paris on a step-by-step basis.French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe appealed to Frances Turkish friends for calm as Turks reacted furiously to the Senates approval of the bill Monday.The proposal adopted in France is tantamount to discrimination and racism, and it violates freedom of thought, Erdogan said in an address to his lawmakers in parliament.The Turkish premier, who dismissed the bill as null and void, warned however that his Islamist-rooted government would punish Paris with retaliatory measures if French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose right-wing UMP party initated the bill, signs it into law.We will implement our sanctions step by step, without any retreat, Erdogan declared. Well publicise our action plan according to the developments on the ground.Juppe, speaking on French television Tuesday, said: Id like to appeal to our Turkish friends for calm and extend my hand to this great country, this economic and political power.When Frances lower house passed the bill last month, Ankara recalled its envoy to Paris for consultations and froze political and military ties with Paris while vowing to impose permanent sanctions if the measure is finally adopted.But before French Senate vote, Turkey sent its ambassador Tahsin Burcuoglu back to Paris to keep up pressure on French senators to oppose the bill.Erdogans address Tuesday was not as strong as expected, in line with continuing efforts by the Turkish envoy to lobby against the legislation.We have not yet lost hope, said Erdogan. We must be patient, he added, urging French intellectuals and the French public not to remain silent over what he called a racist approach.But Turkey is weighing contingency plans if Sarkozy signs the bill into law.We are all prepared. The states alternative plans are all ready, a senior Turkish foreign ministry diplomat told AFP.Possible new sanctions include lowering diplomatic ties to the level of charge daffaires and halting cultural and scientific cooperation.The government has so far avoided calling for a full boycott of French products under pressure from the Turkish business community.The Turkish press on Tuesday expressed collective fury over the bill, accusing France of breaching the right of freedom of expression.Shame on you, France the daily Vatan said. France, where the ideal of freedom was born, has delivered the hardest blow to the freedom of expression, it wrote. In voting the bill on genocide denial, France has turned its back on its own past.In Istanbul, a group of around 100 Workers Party supporters staged a protest in front of the French consulate, chanting slogans such as Armenian Genocide Is an Imperialist Lie.Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed in 1915 and 1916 by the forces of Turkeys former Ottoman Empire.Turkey disputes the figure, arguing that only 500,000 died, and denies this was genocide, ascribing the toll to fighting and starvation during World War I and accusing the Armenians of siding with Russian invaders.France has already recognised the killings as a genocide, but the new bill would go further, by punishing anyone who denies this with a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros ($57,000).—AFP