French Parliament's decision a wrong one, says Deputy PM Arinc

ISTANBUL (A.A) - Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said Friday that the French Parliament's decision on Thursday concerning the incidents of 1915 was a wrong one and carried enmity towards Turkey. Speaking to reporters in Istanbul, Arinc said that what was important in Paris was the eradication of the freedom of thought and expression with the adoption of the Armenian resolution. France did not deserve this, Arinc said. I hope that the French Senate will reverse the decision of the French Parliament. Even if the resolution was adopted at the French Senate, this would not be the end of the world. Turkey will know how to behave in response to the decision of the French Senate, Arinc added. The lower house of the French Parliament adopted on Thursday a resolution that criminalizes rejection of Armenian allegations pertaining to the incidents of 1915. Only 70 out of 577 parliamentarians joined the voting of the resolution which was adopted with majority of votes.  The resolution envisages "one-year prison term and 45,000 Euro fine for those who deny genocide recognized by French laws." French Parliament had recognized so-called Armenian genocide in 1915 on January 29, 2001. The draft criminalizing the rejection of Armenian allegations had first been approved in 2006, but it could not become a law as French President Nicolas Sarkozy prevented its presentation to Senate. Now, the senate's approval is necessary to make the resolution a law.  Turkey strongly opposes the issue of the incidents of 1915 being used as a tool in French politics. Many believe that French President Sarkozy supports the Armenian resolution in order to garner support from France's Armenian population that number around 500,000. France will hold the first round of next year's presidential election on April 22 and the second round run-off on May 6. Sarkozy is running for a second term. If the resolution is not adopted at the senate till February 22, 2012 when the parliament and senate will recess for presidential elections, it will be invalid.