PARIS (RFE/RL, Now Lebanon) — Turkish Ambassador to France Tahsin Burcuoglu has reportedly returned to Paris at the weekend more than two weeks after being recalled to Ankara in protest against a French bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide.
“The ambassador has finished the consultations for which he was recalled and returned to France on Saturday [January 7],” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal told the AFP news agency on January 8.
Hurriyet Daily News reported last week that Burcuoglu would be sent back to Paris to “coordinate” Turkish efforts to prevent the Genocide bill’s passage by the French Senate.
The Senate is expected to debate and vote on the measure, strongly condemned by Turkey, on January 23.
The French government and the opposition Socialist Party, which holds a majority of seats in the chamber, have signaled support for its passage.
The Turkish ambassador was recalled for consultations immediately after the bill was approved by the lower house of France’s parliament, the National Assembly, on December 22.
