Turkish protesters staging protests against Armenian resolution in Paris

PARIS (A.A) - December 22, 2011 - Turkish citizens are staging protests against a resolution on Armenian allegations which will be voted at French Parliament on Thursday. Today, French Parliament will vote a resolution criminalizing the rejection of Armenian allegations pertaining to the incidents of 1915. 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. Nearly 5,000 Turks, who came to Paris from Lyonn, Strasbourg, Nantes and Rouen cities by buses early in the morning, are displaying their reaction by carrying Turkish and French flags as well as banners against the resolution.  Turkish citizens are carrying banners such as "History is written by historians, not politicians" and "Freedom of thought shall not be violated". Police took tight security measures. A Turkish association's chairman Bulent Cumhur told AA that the resolution would probably be adopted at parliament but they would do their best to prevent its approval at the senate. If the Parliament adopts the resolution, this will not mean it will immediately become a law. First Senate should approve, and then French President Nicolas Sarkozy should sign the document which will then be issued in Official Gazette. The draft criminalizing the rejection of Armenian allegations had been approved in 2006, but it could not become a law as Sarkozy prevented its presentation to Senate. If the resolution is adopted, Turkey will summon its ambassador in Paris Tahsin Burcuoglu. As diplomatic custom, France is expected to summon its ambassador in Ankara too. Also, Turkish ministers, deputies and other high-level bureaucrats are expected to suspend their visits to France. The adoption of the resolution is expected to negatively affect the economic relations which have been boosting between Turkey and France in recent years. According to figures of 2010, Turkey ranks the 11th among the countries which France makes the highest export with 6.2 billion euro. Turkey is also on the 16th line which France makes the most import with 5.4 billion euro. France exported products worth of 5.6 billion euro to Turkey in the first ten months of 2011, and the import it made from Turkey is 4.9 billion euro.