France votes on genocide law, faces Turkish reprisals

French senators vote later on Monday on a bill to make it illegal to deny the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago was genocide, raising the prospect of a major diplomatic rift between two NATO allies.    
Lawmakers in the lower-house National Assembly voted overwhelmingly in December for the draft law outlawing genocide denial, prompting Ankara to cancel all economic, political and military meetings with Paris and recall its ambassador for consultations.    

The bill, which has been made more general so that it outlaws the denial of any genocide, partly in the hope of appeasing the Turks, will be debated from 3 p.m. in the upper house before a final vote.       

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara would take new and permanent measures against France unless the bill was rejected.    

"After this the values of Europe will face a big threat. If every parliament implements decisions reflecting its own historical views a new Inquisition period will begin in Europe," Davutoglu was reported as saying by Dogan news agency. "We all know what happened during the Inquisition in the Middle Ages. Unfortunately the revival of this is shameful for France."   

Turks from across Europe demonstrated in central Paris at the weekend, with more protests due on Monday before the vote. Turkish lobby groups carried full page advertisements in French newspapers urging senators to back down.    

Turkey calls the bill a bid by President Nicolas Sarkozy to win the votes of 500,000 ethnic Armenians in France in the two-round presidential vote on April 22 and May 6.

Reuters