PACE president blames Sarkozy for possible chill in France-Turkey relationsDecember 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. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Armenia to participate in key EU meeting for the first time ever National Assembly speaker Alen Simonyan has said that Armenia will for the first time participate in the Conference. U.S. reacts to Russia’s criticism of upcoming Armenia-EU-U.S. meeting Matthew Miller has weighed in on Russia’s criticism of an upcoming Armenia-EU-U.S. meeting. Lavrov sees ‘collapse’ of Russia’s ties with Armenia Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has underscored heightened tensions between Russia and Armenia. Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. |