The international press alleged that the light sentences to four ASALA members charged with the takeover of the Turkish consulate in Paris were a part of a secret deal that French Socialist government struck with ASALA in January 1982. In exchange, ASALA undertook to conduct no further attacks on French soil, while the French government also granted ASALA the unrestricted use of French airports.[9] Belief in this suspected agreement was further bolstered after Interior Minister Gaston Defferre called ASALA's cause "just".[10]