Deputy chairman of AK Party Tanriverdi resigns from Turkish-French Friendship Group

ANKARA (A.A) - December 25, 2011 - Deputy Chairman of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, Huseyin Tanriverdi, has resigned from the Turkish-French Friendship Group at the Turkish Parliament on Sunday. Tanriverdi resigned in reaction to an Armenian resolution that was adopted at the French Parliament on Thursday. In a resignation letter sent to the Turkish Parliament, Tanriverdi said that the adoption of the resolution at the French Parliament was carelessness and ignorance. I resign from the Turkish-French Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group as this resolution openly hurt and ended our relations with France, Tanriverdi said. 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.