The president of the Turko-French inter-parliamentary friendship group, who resigned due to intense pressure from the Turkish public following the passage of a bill through the French lower house of parliament on Dec. 22 seeking to make it illegal to deny that the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 by Ottoman Turks were genocide, stated that the genocide bill does not spell the end of relations with France, which have a long history.
The bill will now be placed on the agenda of the French senate.
In an exclusive interview with Today's Zaman on Tuesday, Mehmet Kasım Gülpınar, head of the inter-parliamentary friendship group with France and Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Şanlıurfa deputy, said he resigned against his will due to mounting public pressure, and expressed his sadness over the deteriorating relations with France, which has had diplomatic relations with Turkey for centuries.
Noting that the group still exists in legal terms even though most of the lawmakers have resigned, Gülpınar pointed out that it would be better to keep the channels of communication open with the French parliament through the friendship group, at least until the senate votes on the bill, which will probably be at the end of January. Open communication might facilitate future efforts to stop approval of the bill in the senate.
“The genocide bill is not the end of everything. The friendship between the two countries has a history and must endure forever,” Gülpınar said. He added that dropping the bill in the upcoming months could restore the rancorous political ties between Turkey and France.
Gülpınar, educated at the French-speaking Tevfik Fikret High School in Ankara, said he was puzzled by the French parliament's decision, saying he had a hard time explaining the significance of the bill to his own family. “Even my kids asked me if we would still be able to go to Disneyland in Paris after the passage of the bill,” he said. He added that the bill made his job of promoting bilateral ties very difficult. “I found my French colleagues sharing my concerns over this bill as well,” he noted. Gülpınar expressed his hope that sensible French politicians will set things right by killing the bill in the senate.
Ankara reacted furiously when the lower house of the French parliament approved the bill in late December, recalling its ambassador from Paris, banning French military aircraft and warships from landing and docking in Turkey and suspending political and economic meetings.
Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdoğan slammed the bill as “politics based on racism, discrimination and xenophobia” and turned his anger on French President Nicolas Sarkozy, accusing France of colonial massacres in Algeria.
The bill makes denial of the alleged Armenian genocide a crime punishable by a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros.
“The bill is a fatal blow to freedom of expression. The bill also put the freedom to travel at risk, in view of the potential penalties [that Turks might face in France],” Gülpınar said, to emphasize that the bill may negatively affect tourism, as most Turks might not choose France as their vacation destination.
Gülpınar said he hopes the French senate will drop the bill. He noted that the senate's possible quashing of the bill will mend fences and bolster cooperation between the two countries.
The inter-parliamentary group consisted of 357 members, most of whom were lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), while there were also members from other parties in the Turkish Parliament.
Unlike other inter-parliamentary groups, all parties from the Turkish Parliament were represented in the executive council of the Turko-French inter-parliamentary friendship group. Deputies from the AK Party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) formed the executive board, which comprised nine members. AK Party Şanlıurfa deputy Gülpınar led the group's activities. Roughly 290 members of the group were AK Party deputies.
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