French law trying to "Nazify" Turks: Davutoglu

A French bill criminalizing denial of Armenian genocide claims is designed to "Nazify" Turkey and push it out of Europe, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said while slamming the European Union for failing to denounce the motion.

"The basic aim here is to Nazify the Turks, in a sense to confine it to somewhere other than European culture. We'll not let this happen," Davutoglu told private broadcaster CNNTurk late Jan. 27. He also said he was disappointed by the silence of the EU, citing in contrast the clear attitude of the U.S. administration against the French "genocide denial" law. If any candidate country to the EU had implemented such a law, the union would have raised the issue, included it in its progress reports and made its removal a precondition of entry, Davutoglu said, adding that Turkey expected the EU to impose sanctions on France.  The minister also said France had lost its impartiality in the Azeri-Armenian conflict, meaning its co-chairmanship in the Minsk Group had become questionable. Turkey was hopeful that French senators would collect the 60 signatures necessary to take the law to the country's Constitutional Council in order to abolish the bill. Meanwhile, Turkey has reviewed a number of military projects with France, and bilateral military cooperation has been reduced to a minimum due to the bilateral strain, said Turkey's defense industry undersecretary, Murad Bayar. "There are one or two ongoing projects that are at the completion phase. We will start no new important project," he said but added that there could be some joint projects with other countries that feature French contribution.