ANKARA: Turkey warned the French president on Tuesday against signing a law that makes it a crime to deny that the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago constituted a genocide, saying it will implement unspecified new measures against France.
France’s parliament approved the bill late Monday, risking more sanctions from Turkey and complicating an already delicate relationship with the rising power. Turkey, which sees the allegations of genocide as a threat to its national honor, has already suspended military, economic and political ties and briefly recalled its ambassador last month when the lower house of parliament approved the same bill.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday strongly condemned the decision, and called it an example of irresponsibility. It said the law should not be finalized to “avoid this being recorded as part of France’s political, legal and moral mistakes.” French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose party supported the bill, needs to sign it into law, but that is largely considered a formality. (Agencies
