Turkey Imposes Sanctions for French Genocide Bill

 　　Turkey has announced several sanctions against France, following the French parliament's passing of a bill that will make it a criminal offense¹ to deny Ottoman Turkey committed genocide against Armenians in the past century.

　　Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan angrily condemned² the French parliament for passing the bill criminalizing denials of the Ottoman Armenian genocide.

　　"France will not speak of Voltaire and Montesquieu anymore I guess," Erdogan quipped. "They have stepped over their ideals of equality, in this voting there is racism³, discrimination, and doing politics over discrimination against foreigners."

　　Along with announcing the recall of Turkey's ambassador from Paris, Erdogan listed several trade, military and political sanctions intended to punish France.

　　The measures were largely symbolic⁴, including the canceling of seminars, and banning the French navy from using Turkey's territorial⁵ waters. The French air force also will have to ask permission for each flight in Turkish air space.

　　The leaders of Turkey's two main opposition⁶ parties also condemned the decision.

　　Turkish-Armenian Etyen Mahcupyan, a political columnist⁷ for the Zaman newspaper, said the French parliament's vote threatens the interests of many Armenians.

　　"It will not serve any purpose to bettering the relations between Turkey and Armenia, and conditions of the Armenians in Turkey. Because it will bring a nationalist backlash," said Mahcupyan.

　　Relations between Turkey and Armenia currently are frozen.

　　The genocide denial bill punishes anyone who denies a genocide recognized by the French state with up to a year in jail and a $58,000 fine.  That includes the mass killing⁸ of Armenians by Turkey's then-Ottoman rulers during World War I.

　　Ankara denies the genocide charge, saying the deaths occurred in a civil war, in which many Turkish Muslims also died. Ankara calls for the controversy⁹ to be resolved by historians rather than politicians.

　　The controversial bill still needs to be ratified¹⁰ by the French Senate and President Nicolas Sarkozy.

　　Ankara is continuing to lobby against the measure, and Erdogan warns if the effort fails he is ready to take further measures against France.

　　He says the announced measures are the first step, and if the French law is ratified, his government will implement¹¹ more sanctions immediately. He said he hopes common sense will prevail and these events will not take the Turkish-French relationships to a point of no return.

　　Despite such tough language, observers say French politicians are seeking a share of 500,000 ethnic-Armenian votes for next year's presidential elections, and warnings from Turkey may be ignored.

　　Supporters of the bill say they are pushing for it to become French law by February.

1 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

2 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

3 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

4 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

5 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

7 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

8 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

9 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

10 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

11 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。