France no different than Mideast dictators: Davutoğlu

Hürriyet

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

The French politicians who passed a bill yesterday penalizing denials of the 1915 events as genocide are no different than Mideast dictators like Bashar al-Assad or Moammar Gadhafi, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said.  

"Middle Eastern rulers dictate what their people may think or say," the Turkish foreign minister told a conference this morning attended by all of the country’s ambassadors. “This is what is happening in France right now.”

Davutoğlu further called on European intellectuals to stand up for their values.  “If the Europeans don't, then we will," he said.   

The foreign minister also addressed Armenians, saying, “Every individual who ever left Anatolia” was part of Turkey's diaspora as well.  

“Our ambassadors will reach every Armenian citizen everywhere, and we will discuss our common history,” Davutoğlu said.