Turkey's foreign minister says French parliament should not make imperialist plans on agonies of others

EDIRNE (A.A) - December 29, 2011 - Turkey's foreign minister Thursday called on the French parliament not to make imperialist plans on agonies of other people. Ahmet Davutoglu addressed the French parliament and drew attention to the difference in leaderships of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Founder of Republic of Turkey. "Every nation thinks that its agony is unique, however we can understand agonies of all nations because we felt the biggest agony," Davutoglu told a conference on "From Balkan War to Balkan Peace: Turkish Foreign Policy in its 100th Anniversary" at the Trakya University in the northwestern province of Edirne. Davutoglu said the French parliament should not make imperialist plans on agonies of other people, and referred to difference between Mustafa Kemal and Sarkozy. "One of them abandoned the place he was born, and burst into tears in every Thracian song he listened. He could incite his nation as the founder of a new nation state, and could make his nation remind their agonies by telling them that 'the Greeks occupied the territories'. However, he did not say so, but extended his hand to Venizelos because a leader like Ataturk was the outcome of a 10-century blend," Davutoglu said. Davutoglu also said, "however, I am not only telling it for Sarkozy, but French leaders came to today by making other nations suffer, and now they are trying to build a new history on agonies of others." The lower house of the French parliament adopted on December 22 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.