France urged for dialogue with Turkey over Armenian genocide

French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged “reason and dialogue” in the row with Turkey on the Armenian genocide, in a letter to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

“I hope we can make reason prevail and maintain our dialogue, as befits allied and friendly countries,” Sarkozy wrote after Erdogan’s government reacted strongly to a bill making denial of the Armenian genocide by Ottoman Turkey an offence, which the French Senate will debate on Monday.