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Turkey stumbles on WWI genocide
 FRENCH President Jacques Chirac has urged Turkey overnight to recognise World War I-era massacres of Armenians as genocide if it wants to join the European Union. Mr Chirac was speaking during a visit to the Armenian capital Yerevan, and his comments were likely to irritate Turkey and put a further strain on its relations with France.He told a news conference Turkey needed to face up to its Ottoman past in response to a question on the nation's EU ambitions. Asked if he thought Turkey should recognize the 1915-1917 massacres as genocide before it joins the EU, the French president replied: "Honestly, I believe so." "All countries grow up acknowledging their dramas and their errors," said Mr Chirac, who is on a two-day visit to Armenia, where he paid homage to Yerevan's "genocide" memorial and attended the inauguration of a "France Square" in central Yerevan. Posted by: Oztralian 2006-10-01 |
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