EU backs Turkey over French law-by Sebnem Arsu
Senior European Union officials sided with Turkey on Friday in a growing controversy over legislation in France that would make it a crime to deny that the killings of Armenians in Turkey during and after World War I constituted genocide. A statement by José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, coincided with satisfaction in Turkey that Orhan Pamuk, who has been involved in controversy over the Armenia issue, had been named the first Turkish novelist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
"We don't think that this decision at this moment is helpful in the context of the European Union's relations with Turkey," The Associated Press quoted Barroso as saying in Helsinki. "This is not the best way to contribute to something we think is important."
The French National Assembly approved the bill Thursday and it now moves to the Senate for action. Turkey has denounced the legislation.
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