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The following are highlights from the Turkish Islamist press on 12 October:
Yeni Safak
Under the headline, "Smugglers in Trouble," Yeni Safak publishes a front-age report which asserts that in a follow-up to its raids on some 1,062 petrol distribution terminals on 29 August, the Energy Market Supervision Board has forwarded reports to the Ministry of Finance and the Undersecretariat of Customs, urging them to cancel the licences of a number of petrol distributors for selling smuggled petrol.
Also front-paged in Yeni Safak is a report entitled "France's Democracy Test," which asserts that according to political observers, the French bill criminalizing the denial of the "Armenian genocide," which is being put to the vote today, will not be passed by the Senate even if it is adopted by Parliament.
In a 600-word article entitled "France's Shamelessness" on page 5, Yeni Safak columnist Yasin Dogan accuses France of "sowing discord among three countries" in preparing to pass a bill outlawing the denial of "the so-called genocide." He asserts that the possible adoption of the bill will please only the Armenian diaspora, adding that France's "hypocritical, insincere, and provocative domestic policy is undermining its foreign policy." He also cites examples of Ankara's "constructive policy towards the Armenians in recent years" (allowing flights between Istanbul and Yerevan, holding conferences on the Armenian issue, allowing as many as 70,000 Armenians to work in Turkey, etc) and accuses the Armenian diaspora of "venting its spleen on Turkey everywhere."
In a 750-word article entitled "Who Killed 650,000 People?" on page 7, Yeni Safak columnist Ibrahim Karagul comments on a British Lancet report which puts the number of Iraqis killed since the start of the US-led occupation of Iraq at 655,000. He slams "those who are carrying on the genocide debate" for "not raising their voices against the carnage" in Iraq and asserts that the international lack of concern about the "shocking" results of the US war on Iraq indicates that the accusations of genocide against Turkey are simply a means of supporting...