Turkey denounces ‘statue of hatred’ in Paris

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul discussed the issue with his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin during talks earlier this week in Ankara, and said efforts to harm ties between the two countries should not be tolerated.

Gul said Thursday that De Villepin had told them the statue had nothing to do with official French policy.

Armenian lobbies all around the world were mobilized Thursday, the day when they commemorate the so-called genocide, to push forward with their efforts to get international recognition for their allegations of an "Armenian genocide" at the hands of the later Ottoman Empire.

Armenian-origin members of the Georgian Parliament requested a special session commemorating the alleged genocide. In Tehran, thousands of Armenian Iranians took to streets, shouting slogans against Turkey and Israel, which they said were committing murders with tolerance from the United States. In Athens, a group of 200 Armenians staged a demonstration against Turkey.

In the European Union capital of Brussels, Armenian activists called for an open reference to the alleged genocide in a report on Turkey that is due to be voted in a European Parliament committee soon.

European Parliament rapporteur Arie Oostlander said in his report assessing Turkey’s annual progress to achieve membership criteria that radical reforms in the Turkish Constitution were needed and called on Turkey to lift restrictions against Armenia.

In a statement on Thursday, the Brussels-based European Armenian Federation criticized Oostlander for not referring to the alleged genocide and called on the European Parliament to have a clearer attitude on the issue.

Armenians say a 1915-1923 campaign to force them out of eastern Turkey amounted to genocide and some 1.5 million people were killed. Turkey, which denies the genocide, says the figures are inflated and says Armenians died during civil unrest.