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NGO FILES COMPLAINT AGAINST TURKEY MINISTER FOR SUPPORTING RACIST SLOGANS AGAINST ARMENIANS
epress.am
02.29.2012
Human Rights Association's (IHD) Istanbul branch filed a criminal
complaint against Turkish Interior Relations Minister Ä°dris Naim
Å~^ahin, whom they claim supported the controversial slogans uttered
against Armenians at Khojaly massacre demonstrations held in Istanbul
on Feb. 26, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.
Meral Cıldır, the head of IHD's Istanbul branch, said Armenian-origin
Turkish citizens called upon their association after the meeting,
saying they felt themselves in danger and targeted. Cıldır said
Å~^ahin's speech in the meeting area was open support for those
who carried racist banners. The protest, which commemorated the
Khojaly massacre in which hundreds of ethnic Azerbaijani civilians
were killed, had staged some racist comments and slogans such as
"You are all Armenians, you are all bastards." Another banner said
"Today Taksim, tomorrow Yerevan will be conquered."
Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the
banners consisting hate speech in the march were singular examples.
"A few marginal and singular banners carried in the protest cannot
put our solidarity and sorrow into the shade. We will not forget the
Khojaly massacre and we will not let them forget," Erdogan said in
the group meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) yesterday.
However, AKP deputy Ayhan Sefer Ustun, also the head of Turkish
Parliament's Human Rights Research Sub-Commission, said those banners
were racist and discriminative, daily Radikal reported yesterday.
Ustun called on the prosecutors to investigate the march.
"The law is obvious. The ones who commit discrimination crimes must be
punished. They [non-governmental organizations] demand us to prepare
a bill against hate crimes, but firstly we need to implement the
current law against those crimes," Ustun said.
From: Baghdasarian
epress.am
02.29.2012
Human Rights Association's (IHD) Istanbul branch filed a criminal
complaint against Turkish Interior Relations Minister Ä°dris Naim
Å~^ahin, whom they claim supported the controversial slogans uttered
against Armenians at Khojaly massacre demonstrations held in Istanbul
on Feb. 26, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.
Meral Cıldır, the head of IHD's Istanbul branch, said Armenian-origin
Turkish citizens called upon their association after the meeting,
saying they felt themselves in danger and targeted. Cıldır said
Å~^ahin's speech in the meeting area was open support for those
who carried racist banners. The protest, which commemorated the
Khojaly massacre in which hundreds of ethnic Azerbaijani civilians
were killed, had staged some racist comments and slogans such as
"You are all Armenians, you are all bastards." Another banner said
"Today Taksim, tomorrow Yerevan will be conquered."
Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the
banners consisting hate speech in the march were singular examples.
"A few marginal and singular banners carried in the protest cannot
put our solidarity and sorrow into the shade. We will not forget the
Khojaly massacre and we will not let them forget," Erdogan said in
the group meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) yesterday.
However, AKP deputy Ayhan Sefer Ustun, also the head of Turkish
Parliament's Human Rights Research Sub-Commission, said those banners
were racist and discriminative, daily Radikal reported yesterday.
Ustun called on the prosecutors to investigate the march.
"The law is obvious. The ones who commit discrimination crimes must be
punished. They [non-governmental organizations] demand us to prepare
a bill against hate crimes, but firstly we need to implement the
current law against those crimes," Ustun said.
From: Baghdasarian