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Today's Zaman, Turkey
June 28 2012
Turkish minister defends anti-Armenian remarks as `national response'
28 June 2012 / TODAY'S ZAMAN, Ä°STANBUL
Education Minister Ã-mer Dinçer has thrown his support behind a book
accused of hate speech against both Turkey's Armenians and
non-Armenians who supported a campaign to apologize for the 1915
deportation of Armenians, referring to it as a natural `national
automatic response.'
The District Governor's Office in Ä°stanbul was involved in a scandal
earlier this year when it distributed a book titled `I Am Closing This
File' to schools in the Kartal district. The book included
inflammatory remarks targeting artists, intellectuals and writers who
supported a petition offering an apology to Armenians for the 1915
incident, which Armenia and the Armenia diaspora around the world
claim amounts to genocide.
The book referred to the signatories of the petition as of `bad
blood,' `the devils among us' and similar phrases. Republican People's
Party (CHP) Ä°stanbul deputy Gökmen Ã-Ä?üt recently submitted an inquiry
to Parliament regarding the racist statements in the book, demanding a
response from Minister Dinçer. The inquiry demanded to know whether
the distribution of the book itself did not constitute a hate crime.
Dinçer in his response claimed that the contents of the book amounted
to a `humorous' musing on the Armenian issue arising from an automatic
national response.
However, an earlier statement from the Ministry of Education on the
book admitted that it contained hateful statements targeting certain
groups, and noted that it was likely to have adverse effects on young
readers. The ministry had also launched an investigation into the
claims that the book was being distributed free of charge.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-284906-turkish-minister-defends-anti-armenian-remarks-as-national-response.html
June 28 2012
Turkish minister defends anti-Armenian remarks as `national response'
28 June 2012 / TODAY'S ZAMAN, Ä°STANBUL
Education Minister Ã-mer Dinçer has thrown his support behind a book
accused of hate speech against both Turkey's Armenians and
non-Armenians who supported a campaign to apologize for the 1915
deportation of Armenians, referring to it as a natural `national
automatic response.'
The District Governor's Office in Ä°stanbul was involved in a scandal
earlier this year when it distributed a book titled `I Am Closing This
File' to schools in the Kartal district. The book included
inflammatory remarks targeting artists, intellectuals and writers who
supported a petition offering an apology to Armenians for the 1915
incident, which Armenia and the Armenia diaspora around the world
claim amounts to genocide.
The book referred to the signatories of the petition as of `bad
blood,' `the devils among us' and similar phrases. Republican People's
Party (CHP) Ä°stanbul deputy Gökmen Ã-Ä?üt recently submitted an inquiry
to Parliament regarding the racist statements in the book, demanding a
response from Minister Dinçer. The inquiry demanded to know whether
the distribution of the book itself did not constitute a hate crime.
Dinçer in his response claimed that the contents of the book amounted
to a `humorous' musing on the Armenian issue arising from an automatic
national response.
However, an earlier statement from the Ministry of Education on the
book admitted that it contained hateful statements targeting certain
groups, and noted that it was likely to have adverse effects on young
readers. The ministry had also launched an investigation into the
claims that the book was being distributed free of charge.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-284906-turkish-minister-defends-anti-armenian-remarks-as-national-response.html