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TURKS CAN BE TRIED FOR ARMENIAN MASSACRE APOLOGY - REPORT
EasyBourse.com
March 2 2009
ANKARA (AFP)--A Turkish court ruled Monday that criminal proceedings
could be launched against the authors and signatories of a petition
that apologizes to Armenians for 1915-17 massacres under the Ottoman
Empire.
The decision by the court in Sincan, on the outskirts of Ankara,
repeals a Jan. 26 ruling by the prosecutor general that bringing
charges would impinge on freedom of speech laws, the Anatolia news
agency said.
Criminal proceedings can now be launched against the organizers of the
Internet petition, which was launched on Dec. 15, and the subsequent
29,000 signatories, Turkish media reported.
The petition states that signatories regret "that we remain indifferent
to the Great Catastrophe that Ottoman Armenians endured...and that
we deny," and offers apologies.
Armenia and Turkey offer starkly different accounts of the events,
and the dispute has been a major obstacle in relations between the
two countries.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million people died between 1915 and 1917 in
orchestrated killings as the Ottoman Empire fell apart. More than 20
countries have recognized the killings as genocide.
Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that between 300,000
and 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife
when Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and
sided with invading Russian troops.
The petition, which does not use the term "genocide" to describe the
massacres, has been signed by more than 29,000 people, among them
intellectuals and artists.
A probe was launched in January after several Ankara residents filed a
complaint asking for those involved with the petition to be punished
for "openly denigrating the Turkish nation", an offense that carries
two years in prison.
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's
most important business and market news, analysis and commentary:
http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rn d=6aW4xd4LO86%2F1a0GwmErOw%3D%3D.
You can use this link on the day this article is published and the
following day.
EasyBourse.com
March 2 2009
ANKARA (AFP)--A Turkish court ruled Monday that criminal proceedings
could be launched against the authors and signatories of a petition
that apologizes to Armenians for 1915-17 massacres under the Ottoman
Empire.
The decision by the court in Sincan, on the outskirts of Ankara,
repeals a Jan. 26 ruling by the prosecutor general that bringing
charges would impinge on freedom of speech laws, the Anatolia news
agency said.
Criminal proceedings can now be launched against the organizers of the
Internet petition, which was launched on Dec. 15, and the subsequent
29,000 signatories, Turkish media reported.
The petition states that signatories regret "that we remain indifferent
to the Great Catastrophe that Ottoman Armenians endured...and that
we deny," and offers apologies.
Armenia and Turkey offer starkly different accounts of the events,
and the dispute has been a major obstacle in relations between the
two countries.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million people died between 1915 and 1917 in
orchestrated killings as the Ottoman Empire fell apart. More than 20
countries have recognized the killings as genocide.
Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that between 300,000
and 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife
when Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and
sided with invading Russian troops.
The petition, which does not use the term "genocide" to describe the
massacres, has been signed by more than 29,000 people, among them
intellectuals and artists.
A probe was launched in January after several Ankara residents filed a
complaint asking for those involved with the petition to be punished
for "openly denigrating the Turkish nation", an offense that carries
two years in prison.
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's
most important business and market news, analysis and commentary:
http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rn d=6aW4xd4LO86%2F1a0GwmErOw%3D%3D.
You can use this link on the day this article is published and the
following day.