Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with French businessmen on Saturday to discuss the so-called Armenian Genocide issue and continued to raise his objections against the "Armenian Genocide" bill in France. Erdogan said that as a third party France had no right to make decisions over a war between two nations in the past, and added: "How can this issue ever be relevant to France? Mind your own business!"
Erdogan asked what France's attitude would be if he, or one of his ministers, rejected the alleged Armenian Genocide in France and continued: "Will you arrest us and send us to prison? Do you have the power to do that?"
Erdogan said intimate relations between countries should not be sacrificed for this kind of issue and added: "Turkey is not a tribal country. You cannot conduct these kinds of operations concerning our country. France has made a great mistake."
The Turkish PM asserted this issue should be discussed by historians, lawyers, art historians and scientists, and added there should be no restrictions to discuss the issue.
Zaman
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