'Genocide' row threatens pipeline

The first reading of the bill sparked protests in Ankara

Turkey has suspended talks with Gaz de France over a key gas pipeline, in protest at a French bill about the killing of Armenians in World War I.

The planned pipeline would carry natural gas from the Middle East and Central Asia to Austria through Turkey.

The French Parliament is considering a law that would make it an offence to deny that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenians.

The draft law was approved by the National Assembly in October.

It will be considered by the Senate next and then return to the lower house before it becomes law.

Turkish denials

The 4.6bn euro ($6.1bn; £3.1bn) Nabucco pipeline project is supposed to reduce the European Union's reliance on Russian gas.

It also passes through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, which have already reached agreement with Gaz de France.

The Turkish government denies that as many as 1.5 million Armenians were killed in systematic killings between 1915 and 1917 under the Ottoman Empire.

It says that thousands of Turks and Armenians were killed when Armenians sided with Russian troops invading the empire, but many countries have since recognised the killings as genocide.