French law trying to ‘Nazify’ Turks: Davutoğlu

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

‘France had lost its impartiality in the Azeri-Armenian conflict,’ Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu (R) says.

A French bill criminalizing denials of Armenian genocide claims is designed to “Nazify” Turkey and push it out of Europe, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said while slamming the European Union for failing to denounce the motion.

“The basic aim here is to Nazify the Turks, in a sense to confine it to somewhere other than European culture. We’ll not let this happen,” Davutoğlu told private broadcaster CNNTürk late Jan. 27.

He also said he was disappointed by the silence of the EU, citing in contrast the clear attitude of the U.S. administration against the French “genocide denial” law. 

Call to Clinton

If any candidate country to the EU had implemented such a law, the union would have raised the issue, included it in its progress reports and made its removal a precondition of entry, Davutoğlu said, adding that Turkey expected the EU to impose sanctions on France.

The minister also said France had lost its impartiality in the Azeri-Armenian conflict, meaning its co-chairmanship in the Minsk Group had become questionable. 

Turkey was hopeful that French senators would collect the 60 signatures necessary to take the law to the country’s Constitutional Council in order to abolish the bill.

Davutoğlu also had a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Jan. 28 to thank her for her statement disapproving of the French bill. The two also discussed the latest developments in the Middle East and Davutoğlu’s upcoming trip to Washington, diplomatic sources said. Clinton criticized the French law on Jan. 27, saying the U.S. would never follow a path that criminalizes expression. She warned against using governmental force in order to resolve historical issues. 

Meanwhile, Turkey has reviewed a number of military projects with France, and bilateral military cooperation has been reduced to a minimum due to the bilateral strain, said Turkey’s defense industry undersecretary, Murad Bayar. 

“There are one or two ongoing projects that are at the completion phase. We will start no new important project,” he said but added that there could be some joint projects with other countries that feature French contribution.