Turkish president calls on France to drop genocide bill

Turkish President Abdullah Gul appealed to France on Tuesday to drop an Armenian genocide bill as soon as possible, saying that the planned legislation was unacceptable.

Reuters/Luke MacGregor

"It is not possible for us to accept this bill which denies us the freedom to reject unfair and groundless accusations targeting our country and our nation," Gul said in a statement.

His remarks came as the French parliament prepares to vote on Thursday on a law making it illegal to deny the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

If the law is passed as expected, anyone in France who publicly denies the genocide could face a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros.

Armenia says up to 1.5 million of its people were killed during World War I by forces belonging to Turkey's former Ottoman Empire.

Turkey rejects the term “genocide” and says between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians, and at least as many Turks, died in combat or from starvation when Armenians rose up and sided with invading Russian forces.

France, which has a large population of Armenian descent ,officially recognised the killings as genocide in 2001.

Gul urged France to scrap the initiative as soon as possible, saying it will block any objective research of the 1915 events, and that history should be written by historians.

"I want to hope that France will not sacrifice centuries-old Turkish-French friendship, common interests and bonds of alliance for small political calculations," said Gul, alluding to the timing of the bill ahead of next year's elections in France.