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Slovak Minister on Armenian Genocide on eve of Turk's visit

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  • Slovak Minister on Armenian Genocide on eve of Turk's visit

    Czech News Agency
    May 27, 2008 Tuesday



    SLOVAK MINISTER ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ON THE EVE TURK'S VISIT



    Bratislava, May 27 (CTK) - Slovak Justice Minister Stefan Harabin
    spoke about the Armenian genocide in the former Ottoman Empire on his
    visit to Armenia, a mere one day ahead of a visit of Turkish Foreign
    Minister Ali Babacan to Slovakia. Turkey has in the long run dismissed
    having exposed Armenians on its territory to genocide during World War
    One. Harabin spoke about the genocide with Armenian Patriarch Karekin
    II who "...highly praised the activities of the Justice Minister who
    proposes to punish denying any genocide, including the genocide of
    Armenians," Harabin's spokesman Michal Jurci told CTK.

    The denying of the killings of Jews during World War Two is only
    punishable in Slovakia now. The Justice Ministry has drafted an
    amendment to the penal law that introduces punishments for denying
    other genocides, including the Armenian. In Turkey, on the contrary,
    hundreds of people have been punished for having labelled the
    massacres of Armenians as genocide which is at variance with the
    official opinion. The controversial law was only mitigated recently
    within Turkey's effort to join the European Union. Jurci said
    Harabin's trip to Armenia did not have any connection with the planned
    visit by the Turkish minister to Slovakia. The Slovak Foreign Ministry
    would not comment on Harabin's visit. The ministry's spokesman Jan
    Skoda said Slovak diplomacy will not open the Armenian genocide in
    talks with the Turkish Foreign Minister. He, nevertheless, recalled
    that Slovak parliament passed in 2004 already a resolution that
    describes the Armenian genocide as a crime against humanity. The
    Turkish embassy in Bratislava would not comment on Harabin's
    statements in Armenia either. Can Onder, the embassy's first
    counsellor, told CTK, however, that the controversial periods of
    history should be left to historians to deal with. The Turkish embassy
    has for some time been trying to make Bratislava's Petrzalka
    neighbourhood remove a memorial to some 1.5 million Armenians who
    became victim to the genocide. Ankara consistently dismisses the term
    genocide and says the death of Armenians in 1915-17 was caused by war,
    uprising and hunger. ms/mr/hol
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