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TURKEY WELCOMES SWISS DECISION IN GENOCIDE PROBE
Today's Zaman
April 3 2012
Turkey
Turkish Foreign Ministry welcomed on Tuesday a decision by Zurich
Prosecutors' Office to drop charges against Turkey's European Union
Minister Egemen Bag覺癬_ for his remarks in Zurich in January.
A statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry hailed the
decision as the "victory of commonsense" and welcomed the fact that
there were no steps that would take freedom of speech hostage.
Swiss prosecutors dropped a criminal probe against Bag覺癬_, instigated
after he made remarks rejecting Armenian claims of genocide at the
hands of the late Ottoman Empire nearly 100 years ago, because he is
protected by diplomatic immunity.
Zurich prosecutors began investigating Bag覺癬_ after comments he
made at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, and also at a
concert in Zurich. Turkey summoned the Swiss ambassador in Ankara to
complain after the investigation was launched.
"After consulting with the Swiss foreign ministry, the prosecutor
has concluded that criminal charges against Egemen Bag覺癬_ cannot be
pursued because, as a Turkish EU minister, he enjoyed immunity during
his entire stay in Switzerland," the prosecutor said in a statement
on Monday.
Commenting on a French Parliament move to criminalize denial of
the alleged genocide, Bag覺癬_ said in Zurich: "This [French] bill
is null and void for us. We believe that there are more people with
common sense than those without it in France. Switzerland is another
country where it is a crime to deny the so-called genocide. Here I
am in Switzerland today, and I'm saying the 1915 incidents did not
amount to genocide. Let them come arrest me."
Armenians claim that the 1915 killings of 1.5 million Armenians as
the Ottoman Empire broke up was the 20th century's first genocide,
and several European countries have recognized the massacres as such.
Switzerland has convicted people of racism for denying genocide.
But Turkey asserts that there was no systematic campaign to
kill Armenians and that many Turks also died during the chaotic
disintegration of the empire. It also argues that the death toll
is inflated.
Switzerland has a penal code article that punishes acts of racism,
including public denial of genocides, established against a backdrop
of right-wing attacks targeting asylum seekers in the country two
decades ago.
Swiss authorities have taken legal action against several people who
have denied the Armenian genocide claims. The most prominent case
is the conviction of Turkish politician Dogu Perincek, who was fined
3,000 Swiss francs in 2007.
In January, the French Senate approved similar legislation, prompting
an angry response from Turkey. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan termed the legislation "discriminatory and racist."
The bill, however, was later annulled by France's Constitutional
Council, which said it was contradictory to the principles of freedom
of expression enshrined in France's founding documents.
Today's Zaman
April 3 2012
Turkey
Turkish Foreign Ministry welcomed on Tuesday a decision by Zurich
Prosecutors' Office to drop charges against Turkey's European Union
Minister Egemen Bag覺癬_ for his remarks in Zurich in January.
A statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry hailed the
decision as the "victory of commonsense" and welcomed the fact that
there were no steps that would take freedom of speech hostage.
Swiss prosecutors dropped a criminal probe against Bag覺癬_, instigated
after he made remarks rejecting Armenian claims of genocide at the
hands of the late Ottoman Empire nearly 100 years ago, because he is
protected by diplomatic immunity.
Zurich prosecutors began investigating Bag覺癬_ after comments he
made at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, and also at a
concert in Zurich. Turkey summoned the Swiss ambassador in Ankara to
complain after the investigation was launched.
"After consulting with the Swiss foreign ministry, the prosecutor
has concluded that criminal charges against Egemen Bag覺癬_ cannot be
pursued because, as a Turkish EU minister, he enjoyed immunity during
his entire stay in Switzerland," the prosecutor said in a statement
on Monday.
Commenting on a French Parliament move to criminalize denial of
the alleged genocide, Bag覺癬_ said in Zurich: "This [French] bill
is null and void for us. We believe that there are more people with
common sense than those without it in France. Switzerland is another
country where it is a crime to deny the so-called genocide. Here I
am in Switzerland today, and I'm saying the 1915 incidents did not
amount to genocide. Let them come arrest me."
Armenians claim that the 1915 killings of 1.5 million Armenians as
the Ottoman Empire broke up was the 20th century's first genocide,
and several European countries have recognized the massacres as such.
Switzerland has convicted people of racism for denying genocide.
But Turkey asserts that there was no systematic campaign to
kill Armenians and that many Turks also died during the chaotic
disintegration of the empire. It also argues that the death toll
is inflated.
Switzerland has a penal code article that punishes acts of racism,
including public denial of genocides, established against a backdrop
of right-wing attacks targeting asylum seekers in the country two
decades ago.
Swiss authorities have taken legal action against several people who
have denied the Armenian genocide claims. The most prominent case
is the conviction of Turkish politician Dogu Perincek, who was fined
3,000 Swiss francs in 2007.
In January, the French Senate approved similar legislation, prompting
an angry response from Turkey. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan termed the legislation "discriminatory and racist."
The bill, however, was later annulled by France's Constitutional
Council, which said it was contradictory to the principles of freedom
of expression enshrined in France's founding documents.