attack doesn’t mean it also agrees that Turkish forces carried out genocide against mainly Christian Armenians.
French President Jacques Chirac even told Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan he is sorry French lawmakers approved a bill last week making it a crime to deny Armenians were victims of "genocide" in 1915-1917 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, the Turkish Daily News online publication reported Monday, October 16.
"Chirac called me and told me he was sorry and said he is listening to our statements. He thinks we are right and will do what he can in the upcoming process,” Erdogan reportedly told his ruling Justice and Development Party during a dinner this weekend in comments that were later broadcasted. There was no immediate reaction from France.
Prime Minister Erdogan told reporters that Chirac had promised to "do everything he could in the following process" of readings through which the bill must pass before becoming law in France. And he attacked French lawmakers who he reportedly said "had made a grave mistake in adopting such a primitive law."
"NARROW MINDED"
"Because of certain narrow-minded deputies, the France we know as a country of liberties is forced to live with this shame," Erdogan was quoted as saying. “If France does not cancel this text, it is France that will lose, not Turkey."
However at least a dozen other countries have also accepted the term ‘genocide’ when describing the killing of an estimated 1.5 million, mainly Armenian, Hellenic, and Assyrian Christians. Turkey has denied these figures.
As the row over the ‘genocide’ bill continues, Turkey is under pressure to respect the rights of religious minorities, including Christians, at a time when the country seeks membership of the EU.
Under apparent pressure, a Turkish court sentenced a teenage boy to over 18 years in prison for killing an Italian Catholic priest earlier this year, BosNewsLife monitored Monday, October 16.
FOUND GUILTY
In a published statement, the court in the Black Sea city of Trabzon said the boy was found guilty of premeditated murder, possessing a weapon without a license and threatening public security. The identity of the 16-year old defendant has not been revealed.
Father Andrea Santoro, 61, was killed in February as he prayed in a church in Trabzon. Witnesses said the attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is Great," as he fired two bullets into the priest’s back after Sunday Mass.
The attack happened during increased worldwide tensions over caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad published in Europe.
Pope Benedict paid public tribute to the slain priest after the killing, and expressed hope the death would spark dialogue among people of different faiths. The pontiff is to visit Turkey next month amid concerns among Muslim leaders over recent remarks he made about aspects of Islam.
CONTROVERSIAL SPEECH
In a speech at a German university the pope quoted a medieval text that characterized some of the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings as "evil and inhuman," declaring Islam was a religion spread by the sword.
Muslim scholars said this weekend they accepted the pope’s apology that he did not want to offend Muslims but just "quoted a text," but other Muslim leaders in and outside Turkey are believed to demand a "fuller apology." (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos and reports from Turkey).
