Turkey Asks French Senators to Reject Armenian Genocide Bill

Turkey on Friday asked French senators to reject a bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide, which comes before the French Senate next Monday.

"We expect (President Nicolas) Sarkozy, his party, and the French Senate to respect European values before anything else. Those who exploit history will themselves suffer from this exploitation," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in televised remarks.

"We invite each French senator to stop for a while and think beyond all political interests," Davutoglu told the press.

"If the bill passes, it will remain as a black stain in France's intellectual history. And we will always remind them this black stain," he said.

A French Senate committee on Wednesday rejected the bill to outlaw denial of the Armenian genocide, but the move was unlikely to stop the diplomatically fraught legislation from passing the final vote.

Davutoglu said the commission's decision confirms Turkey's "rightful attitude."

The French lower house approved the bill last month, threatening with jail anyone who denies that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide, drawing a threat of sanctions from Turkey.

Ankara froze political and military ties with France when the bill was passed by the National Assembly, and has threatened further measures if it continues through the Senate or is approved by Sarkozy.

A plenary Senate session on Monday will now vote on the committee's motion, but most senators opposed to the legislation are expected to abstain, allowing the Senate to take a final vote on the bill itself.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed in 1915 and 1916 by the forces of Turkey's former Ottoman Empire.

Turkey disputes the figure, arguing that only 500,000 died, and denies this was genocide, ascribing the toll to fighting and starvation during World War I and accusing the Armenians of siding with Russian invaders.

France recognized the killings as a genocide in 2001, but the new bill would go further, by punishing anyone who denies this with a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros.