Turkish consumers union starts to boycott French goods

The Turkish Consumers Union announced Friday that it has started to boycott goods and services of French origin in protest against a bill passed by French lawmakers, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

"As of today, we are going to boycott one French product every week and show our reaction" against a bill criminalizing any denial of the alleged massacres of Armenians during World War I, Bulent Deniz, chairman of the union, was quoted as saying.

"We will not purchase fuel oil, lube oil, and LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) from the Total Company. France will be the party that loses unless this unfortunate process ends," Deniz said.

"The Turkish Consumers Union considered boycott as the last alternative," said Deniz, adding that the boycott will continue increasingly until the French bill gets annulled.

French lawmakers on Thursday voted 106-19 for a draft bill, which calls for up to a year in prison and fines of up to 56,000 U. S. dollars for anyone who denies the alleged Armenian genocide during World War I. The bill must be passed by the Senate and signed by French President Jacques Chirac.

Turkey, a secular Muslim country which is seeking EU membership, has vowed to impose economic sanctions on France if the bill is passed in the French parliament.

Turkey has always denied that up to 1.5 million Armenians were subject to genocide in the period between 1915 and 1923.

However, it does acknowledge that up to 300,000 Armenians died during fighting and efforts to relocate populations away from the war zone in eastern Turkey.

According to the Zaman daily, Turkey is the fifth largest customer of French goods outside the EU. France's export to Turkey values at 5.9 billion dollars while its import from Turkey remains at 3.8 billion dollars.

Source: Xinhua