Turkish FM warns French president not to repeat denial law

ANKARA (A.A) - February 29, 2012 - Turkish foreign minister has urged French president not to try to pass another legislation similar to one which was annulled by France's top constitutional watchdog on Tuesday. "Sarkozy had already pushed his chances too hard and if he tries that again he would have started a war on French culture and the French rule of law. It would be most unfortunate for him to challenge a ruling passed by such a high level authority like the Constitutional Council," Ahmet Davutoglu told a televised interview on state-run broadcaster TRT hours after the French Constitutional Council cancelled a law that makes it a crime to deny Armenian allegations that the incidents of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire amounted to a "genocide."  The French council ruled that the law violated freedom of expression and communication upon an appeal by a large number of French senators and MPs for the annulment of the legislation. The law made it punishable to deny the Armenian allegations with a prison term of one-year and a fine of 45 thousand euros.   Davutoglu said relations between the two countries had weathered "a turbulence," adding that Turkey needed to review the position France would assume before lifting a series of measures Ankara had taken after the approval of the denial law by the lower house of the French parliament.     "We need to keep our channels open in the name of sharing a common history [with Armenia]. And our common history should not be sacrificed to the political ambitions of this or that leader," Davutoglu said.