Erdogan to announce sanctions step by step

In reply to reporters' questions about the French bill that aims to penalize denial of alleged Armenian genocide in France, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the closure of Parliament's plenary session yesterday that he would make a statement tomorrow with regard to sanctions to be imposed by Turkey in the first, second and third stages. "These unbelievable steps currently taken by Sarkozy which are based on political gains will seriously damage relations between Turkey and France," said Erdogan, expressing hope that the current structure in France predominantly consisting of social democrats would evaluate the steps taken by French government very well, the Senate would correct the mistake just as it has done before and Turkish-French relations would continue in this way. Erdogan added that 500,000 Armenians, as well as 550,000 Turkish citizens currently live in France, along with two-four million people who agree with us there, and that all those people including French citizens would increasingly criticize this, in case the bill was passed.