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GREEK CYPRUS CRIMINALIZES DENIAL OF "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE"
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
April 2 2015
Greek Cyprus has made it a crime to deny the Ottoman Turks committed
genocide against Armenian Turks a century ago, a move likely to rile
its old rival Turkey as peace talks on the ethnically-split island
remain stalled.
The Greek Cypriot parliament passed a resolution on April 2 penalising
the denial of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes,
modifying existing legislation, which required prior conviction by
an international court to make denial a crime.
"Today is a historic day," parliament speaker Yiannakis Omirou said,
as quoted by Reuters. "It allows parliament to restore, with unanimous
decisions and resolutions, historical truths."
The east Mediterranean island, split after Turkey's military
operation in 1974 after a brief Greek inspired coup, was one of the
first countries worldwide in 1975 to recognise the Armenian killings
as genocide.
Armenia says up to 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians were killed in
a genocide which began in 1915. Turkey denies the deaths amounted
to genocide, saying the death toll of Armenians killed during mass
deportations has been inflated and that those killed in 1915 and 1916
were victims of general unrest during World War I.
Around 20 countries have recognized the killings as genocide.
The issue has long been a source of tension between Turkey and
several Western countries, especially the United States and France,
both home to large ethnic Armenian diasporas. Cyprus too has an
Armenian population.
Cyprus has been at loggerheads with Turkey for decades. Its ethnic
Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations have lived estranged in the
south and north of the island respectively since 1974, but seeds of
division were sown earlier when a power-sharing government crumbled
amid violence in 1963.
Free speech case
The Greek Cypriot lawmakers who passed the resolution now comprise
the island's only internationally recognised parliament.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had ruled last year the
denial of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as genocide falls
within the limits of freedom of expression, following an appeal from
a Turkish politician against his conviction in Switzerland.
Workers' Party (Ä°P) Chairman Dogu Perincek, who described the Armenian
genocide as an "international lie," had complained the Swiss courts
had breached his freedom of expression, based on Article 10 covering
freedom of expression.
The ECHR ruling stated "the free exercise of the right to openly
discuss questions of a sensitive and controversial nature is one of
the fundamental aspects of freedom of expression and distinguishes
a tolerant and pluralistic democratic society from a totalitarian or
dictatorial regime."
April/02/2015
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/greek-cyprus-criminalizes-denial-of-armenian-genocide.aspx?pageID=238&nID=80498&NewsCatID=351
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
April 2 2015
Greek Cyprus has made it a crime to deny the Ottoman Turks committed
genocide against Armenian Turks a century ago, a move likely to rile
its old rival Turkey as peace talks on the ethnically-split island
remain stalled.
The Greek Cypriot parliament passed a resolution on April 2 penalising
the denial of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes,
modifying existing legislation, which required prior conviction by
an international court to make denial a crime.
"Today is a historic day," parliament speaker Yiannakis Omirou said,
as quoted by Reuters. "It allows parliament to restore, with unanimous
decisions and resolutions, historical truths."
The east Mediterranean island, split after Turkey's military
operation in 1974 after a brief Greek inspired coup, was one of the
first countries worldwide in 1975 to recognise the Armenian killings
as genocide.
Armenia says up to 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians were killed in
a genocide which began in 1915. Turkey denies the deaths amounted
to genocide, saying the death toll of Armenians killed during mass
deportations has been inflated and that those killed in 1915 and 1916
were victims of general unrest during World War I.
Around 20 countries have recognized the killings as genocide.
The issue has long been a source of tension between Turkey and
several Western countries, especially the United States and France,
both home to large ethnic Armenian diasporas. Cyprus too has an
Armenian population.
Cyprus has been at loggerheads with Turkey for decades. Its ethnic
Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations have lived estranged in the
south and north of the island respectively since 1974, but seeds of
division were sown earlier when a power-sharing government crumbled
amid violence in 1963.
Free speech case
The Greek Cypriot lawmakers who passed the resolution now comprise
the island's only internationally recognised parliament.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had ruled last year the
denial of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as genocide falls
within the limits of freedom of expression, following an appeal from
a Turkish politician against his conviction in Switzerland.
Workers' Party (Ä°P) Chairman Dogu Perincek, who described the Armenian
genocide as an "international lie," had complained the Swiss courts
had breached his freedom of expression, based on Article 10 covering
freedom of expression.
The ECHR ruling stated "the free exercise of the right to openly
discuss questions of a sensitive and controversial nature is one of
the fundamental aspects of freedom of expression and distinguishes
a tolerant and pluralistic democratic society from a totalitarian or
dictatorial regime."
April/02/2015
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/greek-cyprus-criminalizes-denial-of-armenian-genocide.aspx?pageID=238&nID=80498&NewsCatID=351