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Lawless Europe
BY OKTAY EKSI
Turkish Press
May 4 2005
HURRIYET- Last year on May, Yusuf Halacoglu attended a meeting
where he insisted that the Armenian 'genocide' claims are baseless
and false. However, Swiss law considers it a crime to reject the
'genocide' claims. Therefore, a legal investigation was begun into
Halacoglu. Assuming the reverse, what if a Turkish court had opened
an investigation against a citizen of Switzerland?
There's little doubt what would happen. We'd be getting letters of
protest from Europe complaining, 'There's still no freedom of speech in
Turkey.' The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly would condemn the
decision of Turkish courts, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
would eagerly wait in line to take their shots at Turkey. We'd be
listening to European Parliament members lecturing us on learning the
rules of the Union, and most of us would be thinking they were right.
But now, Switzerland, which often brags to be the most civilized
country in the world, opened a legal investigation against a Turkish
historian who merely expressed his own point of view...
The reason? According to the Swiss Parliament, the Ottoman Empire is
guilty of 'genocide' against the Armenians. Therefore, it's a crime
to reject this 'genocide.' However, there's no court precedent saying
that the Armenian 'genocide' claims are true. Without a court ruling
on the Armenian 'genocide,' how can they ever accuse Halacoglu of
rejecting a crime? That seems quite impossible.
However, each day we witness another double standard in our relations
with the EU, so we shouldn't really expect Europe to come up with a
fair ruling.
BY OKTAY EKSI
Turkish Press
May 4 2005
HURRIYET- Last year on May, Yusuf Halacoglu attended a meeting
where he insisted that the Armenian 'genocide' claims are baseless
and false. However, Swiss law considers it a crime to reject the
'genocide' claims. Therefore, a legal investigation was begun into
Halacoglu. Assuming the reverse, what if a Turkish court had opened
an investigation against a citizen of Switzerland?
There's little doubt what would happen. We'd be getting letters of
protest from Europe complaining, 'There's still no freedom of speech in
Turkey.' The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly would condemn the
decision of Turkish courts, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
would eagerly wait in line to take their shots at Turkey. We'd be
listening to European Parliament members lecturing us on learning the
rules of the Union, and most of us would be thinking they were right.
But now, Switzerland, which often brags to be the most civilized
country in the world, opened a legal investigation against a Turkish
historian who merely expressed his own point of view...
The reason? According to the Swiss Parliament, the Ottoman Empire is
guilty of 'genocide' against the Armenians. Therefore, it's a crime
to reject this 'genocide.' However, there's no court precedent saying
that the Armenian 'genocide' claims are true. Without a court ruling
on the Armenian 'genocide,' how can they ever accuse Halacoglu of
rejecting a crime? That seems quite impossible.
However, each day we witness another double standard in our relations
with the EU, so we shouldn't really expect Europe to come up with a
fair ruling.