Turkish lawmakers meet French FM ahead of Armenian bill debate

PARIS (A.A) - A group of Turkish parliamentarians on Tuesday met with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, conveying Turkey's uneasiness about a bill which is set to be debated at the French parliament on Thursday. The bill makes denial of Ottoman era incidents of 1915 punishable in France with a prison term of one year and a fine of 45 thousand. The group of Turkish lawmakers headed Volkan Bozkir, chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee with the Turkish parliament earlier met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy's diplomatic adviser Jean-David Levitte.  Turkish lawmakers reportedly warned the top French diplomat that the approval of the bill would deal a sizable blow on bilateral relations. The group will meet later with Bernard Accoyer, head of the French parliament before appearing in a press conference.  Diplomatic sources close to the matter have said that the bill had the backing of Sarkozy who had recently expressed support during a visit to Yerevan last October ahead of the presidential elections next year.       Turkish Foreign Ministry has rejected the attempt as a pre-election campaign move. A similar bill -- proposed by the Socialist Party -- was approved in 2006 by the lower house of the French assembly but the Senate rejected to debate the bill last May.