Alcatel declined comment on Turkey's decision on Tuesday to scrap a key defense deal with the French telecommunications equipment group amid a chilling in bilateral relations between Paris and Ankara.
Turkey said on Tuesday it annulled a spy satellite contract with Alcatel and warned of further retaliation in arms deals following adoption of a French bill charging as genocide the killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.
"We are not making any comment," an Alcatel spokeswoman told AFP.
Alcatel officially has not confirmed it won the satellite contract, worth some $200 million (€212 million), in its fierce competition with an Israeli firm last autumn. Turkey put France on notice that state-controlled Giat Industries would be targeted. Loss-making Giat said it had not received official word from Turkey.
"We have had no official information," said a spokeswoman for Giat, which makes armored vehicles and artillery. "It is true that we are concerned, just like all French companies," she said.
Giat is fielding its Leclerc battle tank in Turkey's tender for joint production of 1,000 tanks, estimated at some seven billion dollars.
The other contenders for the deal are Krauss-Maffei Wegmann of Germany, General Dynamics of the United States and Ukrspetseksport of Ukraine.
Last Friday, Giat chairman Jacques Loppion said he had a "small regret" over the passage of the French bill, as the Leclerc had performed well in the Turkish tests and was at the top of the list.
Eurocopter chairman Jean-Francois Bigay told AFP that the genocide bill would "have consequences" for the helicopter maker. "Relations with the Turkish client will be more difficult," he said on the sidelines of a news conference.
Eurocopter, part of the European Aeronautics Defense and Space company, was knocked out of Turkey's tender for 145 combat helicopters. — (AFP, Paris)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
