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Reuters, UK
Sept 23 2005
RPT-Turkey condemns court stopping Armenia conference
Fri 23 Sep 2005 4:56 AM ET
By Jon Hemming
ISTANBUL, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Turkey's government condemned a court
decision to stop a conference to discuss the massacre of Armenians
during World War One, calling it a blow to freedom of speech and a
mistake ahead of EU-accession talks on Oct. 3.
The European Commission in Brussels called the Istanbul court
decision "a provocation" less than two weeks before Ankara is due to
start entry talks with the 25-member European Union.
Turkey has always denied claims that Ottoman forces carried out
genocide against local Armenians during the war, but under pressure
from the European Union, has called for historians to debate the
issue, not politicians.
The Istanbul university conference aimed to do just that. But on
Friday, when the conference had been due to start, the debate was
political rather than academic.
"To prevent a meeting which has not yet happened and where it is not
clear what is to be discussed has got nothing to do with democracy,"
newspapers quoted Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as saying.
"Those inside and outside the country who want to obstruct us as we
go towards Oct. 3 are making their last efforts," said Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. "There is no one better than us when
it comes to harming ourselves," he added.
Late on Thursday, the court stopped the conference pending
information from the two universities which organised it on the
academic careers of the speakers, who was participating and who was
paying for it.
"It was cancelled because they did not know who was going to say
what," the Sabah daily said.
The European Commission was not impressed.
"The absence of legal motivations and the (timing) of this decision a
day before the conference looks like yet another provocation," said
Krisztina Nagy, the EU executive's spokeswoman for enlargement, on
Friday.
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn previously called a Turkish
court's plans to prosecute novelist Orhan Pamuk a provocation. Pamuk
faces up to three years in jail for backing allegations that
Armenians suffered genocide 90 years ago.
The Armenian conference had been postponed in May after a minister
accused its organisers of treason.
Turkey accepts thousands of Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman
forces, but says many Turks and Kurds were massacred by Armenian
partisans and their Russian allies in the fighting on Turkey's
eastern fringes.
Turkey closed its border and cut diplomatic ties with neighbouring
Armenia in 1993 to protest Armenian occupation of the territory of
Azerbaijan, a regional Turkic-speaking ally of Ankara.
Sept 23 2005
RPT-Turkey condemns court stopping Armenia conference
Fri 23 Sep 2005 4:56 AM ET
By Jon Hemming
ISTANBUL, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Turkey's government condemned a court
decision to stop a conference to discuss the massacre of Armenians
during World War One, calling it a blow to freedom of speech and a
mistake ahead of EU-accession talks on Oct. 3.
The European Commission in Brussels called the Istanbul court
decision "a provocation" less than two weeks before Ankara is due to
start entry talks with the 25-member European Union.
Turkey has always denied claims that Ottoman forces carried out
genocide against local Armenians during the war, but under pressure
from the European Union, has called for historians to debate the
issue, not politicians.
The Istanbul university conference aimed to do just that. But on
Friday, when the conference had been due to start, the debate was
political rather than academic.
"To prevent a meeting which has not yet happened and where it is not
clear what is to be discussed has got nothing to do with democracy,"
newspapers quoted Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as saying.
"Those inside and outside the country who want to obstruct us as we
go towards Oct. 3 are making their last efforts," said Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. "There is no one better than us when
it comes to harming ourselves," he added.
Late on Thursday, the court stopped the conference pending
information from the two universities which organised it on the
academic careers of the speakers, who was participating and who was
paying for it.
"It was cancelled because they did not know who was going to say
what," the Sabah daily said.
The European Commission was not impressed.
"The absence of legal motivations and the (timing) of this decision a
day before the conference looks like yet another provocation," said
Krisztina Nagy, the EU executive's spokeswoman for enlargement, on
Friday.
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn previously called a Turkish
court's plans to prosecute novelist Orhan Pamuk a provocation. Pamuk
faces up to three years in jail for backing allegations that
Armenians suffered genocide 90 years ago.
The Armenian conference had been postponed in May after a minister
accused its organisers of treason.
Turkey accepts thousands of Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman
forces, but says many Turks and Kurds were massacred by Armenian
partisans and their Russian allies in the fighting on Turkey's
eastern fringes.
Turkey closed its border and cut diplomatic ties with neighbouring
Armenia in 1993 to protest Armenian occupation of the territory of
Azerbaijan, a regional Turkic-speaking ally of Ankara.