Turkish Envoy Returns to Paris to Keep Up Efforts ‘Til the End’

Turkey’s Ambassador to France Tahsin Burcuoğlu returned to Paris on Saturday after two weeks in Turkey for consultations with the Foreign Ministry, which decided to pull the ambassador after a majority in the French lower house approved a bill to criminalize the denial of the Armenian Genocide.

Burcuoğlu left Turkey on Saturday to resume his mission in Paris, where he is expected to keep up Turkey’s efforts to block the bill from coming to the agenda of the French Senate or, alternatively, get it voted down, Today’s Zaman reports. Turkey argues the bill will damage freedom of expression in France and drastically hurt financial ties between the two countries. Speaking to reporters in late December during his stay in Turkey, Burcuoğlu noted he was not withdrawn from Paris indefinitely but for consultations, and it would only be natural for him to return to France to keep up Turkish efforts “until the end.”