Turkish Minister for EU affairs, head of the Turkish delegation Egemen Bagis made a statement on Turkey’s accession into European Union and commented on the French bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide.
Turkish media quoted the minister as saying at EU talks that all obstacles the EU put to hamper Turkey’s membership will be eliminated one day.
“France and Germany supported Turkey’s accession to EU when Schroeder and Chirac were in office. The situation in EU may change today as well.”
The Turkish minister participated in a program broadcast by TPT channel in Arabic language and answered some questions.
When Egyptian writer Saad Abdel Majeed asked Bagis to comment on the Cyprus issue, the Turkish minister said: “Though the world does not recognize the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), there are two states on the island with separate governments, parliaments, and relevant institutions. Over the past years, efforts are made to united these states. Though TRNC agreed with the plan of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Greek Cypriots declined this plan at the referendum. Basing on this, citizens of the Greek part of Cyprus were permitted entry into TRNC. Citizens of EU member-states were banned from trade with TRNC and even entry into this state; neither was lifted the isolation by EU towards TRNC.”
Bagis said president of France Nicolas Sarkozy supported the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial in an attempt to get votes of those who oppose Islam. “Sarkozy knows pretty well that he won’t get votes of citizens of African origin. Therefore, he supported the Armenian bill to secure votes of the far-right wing,” Bagis declared.
The French Constitutional Council on Feb 28 ruled the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial adopted earlier by the Senate of France as unconstitutional. The Council justified it by the fact that the law “contradicts Article 33 of the Constitution of France and the freedom of speech”.
On January 23, the French Senate passed the bill with 127 votes for and 86 against. If signed into law by the President, the bill would impose a 45,000 euro fine and a year in prison for anyone in France who denies this crime against humanity committed by the Ottoman Empire.
