PACE president blames Sarkozy for possible chill in France-Turkey relations

December 19, 2011 - 11:19 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Mevlut Cavusoglu puts “responsibility” for the possible adoption of the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial by the French parliament on President Nicolas Sarkozy.

“Should this bill be approved, Sarkozy will be personally liable both to the history and for deterioration of French-Turkish relations. It’s apparent that he minded the narrow interest of his own party rather than France when introducing this bill,” Turkish media quoted Cavusoglu as saying.

The statesman argued that Turkey is not a country to become a subject of pre-election debates in any country. “Turkey is a strong country which is capable to stand up for itself. History will show who will suffer greater loss, but definitely that will not be Turkey,” he said.

A draft law envisaging a one-year prison sentence and 45,000 euro fine for denying the Armenian Genocide is due to go before French parliament this week.