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PERINCEK MAY DENY BUT TURKEY SHOULD NOT
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Feb 3 2015
JOOST LAGENDIJK
February 03, 2015, Tuesday
One of the most difficult things in life is to admit, on any given
subject, that someone you dislike from the bottom of your heart
is right.
It happened to me last week when Dogu Perincek defended himself at the
European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg for having denied
that a genocide took place against the Ottoman Armenians in 1915.
Last week's hearing at the ECtHR is the latest episode in a long,
drawn-out legal battle over freedom of speech and the right to deny
the Armenian genocide. In 2005, Perincek spoke at several conferences
in Switzerland and described the idea of an Armenian genocide as an
"international lie." In the years following, Swiss courts, also on
appeal, found Perincek guilty of denying historical facts and by
doing so racially discriminating against Armenians.
Perincek complained that the Swiss courts had violated his right to
freedom of expression and lodged an application with the ECtHR in
2008. In December 2013 the court ruled that Perincek was right. The
Swiss government then used its right to refer the case to the highest
level of the ECtHR. It is this so-called Grand Chamber that organized
the hearing on Jan. 28 and that will come up with a final ruling in
the next couple of months.
Let me be clear: I think Perincek is an ultranationalist champion
of conspiracy theories whose opinions I thoroughly reject and often
detest, and who has been convicted, according to me for good reasons,
for his links with all kinds of dirty businesses in the past as part
of the Ergenekon trial. But in this particular case he is right. He,
and others who share his opinion, should be allowed to say in public
that the events of 1915, as he put it more mildly and precisely at
the hearing, "do not fit the legal classification of genocide." It
does not matter whether you agree with Perincek or not. Also, the
ECtHR in its 2013 ruling made it explicitly clear that it was not
its task to rule on "the appropriateness of legally characterizing
the events of 1915 as 'genocide'." The court stressed that genocide
was a very narrow legal concept that was difficult to substantiate,
and was therefore open to discussion and a matter of debate. It is
hard to see how the Grand Chamber could come to another conclusion.
Despite my personal uncomfortable feelings about Perincek and the way
he uses his freedom of expression, what really worries me is something
else. Perincek had his moment of glory in Strasbourg, but he remains
a marginal figure. My fear is that the Turkish state will conclude
that its official denialist policy on the Armenian genocide will,
most probably, again be validated by the ECtHR. Mind you: From the
moment Perincek turned to the Strasbourg court, the Turkish government
joined the proceedings as a third party. Present at the hearing last
week to show support for Perincek were high-level delegations of both
the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Republican People's
Party (CHP). It looks as if this case has been turned into not just
one of Perincek versus Switzerland, but has purposefully been made
into one of the complete Turkish political establishment versus the
rest of the world.
With that mindset, a victory for Perincek will be automatically
interpreted by many in Turkey as a green light by the highest European
legal authorities for the traditional Turkish approach t the 1915
massacres.
That would be a serious mistake. Not only because this is a case about
freedom of expression and not about the correct interpretation of
history. Perincek is free to say what he wants, even if that makes
no sense to the rest of the world. But the Turkish government has
a fundamentally different responsibility. Especially in this year,
the centennial of the events, Turkish authorities should not hide
behind ECtHR rulings.
The rest of the world does not expect a dramatic U-turn from Turkey
on the "g-word." What many people do hope is for Turkey to continue
where then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stopped last year:
To go the extra mile in showing to the descendants of the Armenians
who were killed or chased from Ottoman lands in 1915 that today's
Turkey is sorry for what happened then and for the insensitivity
toward Armenian suffering shown by previous generations in Turkey.
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/joost-lagendijk/perincek-may-deny-but-turkey-should-not_371623.html
From: A. Papazian
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Feb 3 2015
JOOST LAGENDIJK
February 03, 2015, Tuesday
One of the most difficult things in life is to admit, on any given
subject, that someone you dislike from the bottom of your heart
is right.
It happened to me last week when Dogu Perincek defended himself at the
European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg for having denied
that a genocide took place against the Ottoman Armenians in 1915.
Last week's hearing at the ECtHR is the latest episode in a long,
drawn-out legal battle over freedom of speech and the right to deny
the Armenian genocide. In 2005, Perincek spoke at several conferences
in Switzerland and described the idea of an Armenian genocide as an
"international lie." In the years following, Swiss courts, also on
appeal, found Perincek guilty of denying historical facts and by
doing so racially discriminating against Armenians.
Perincek complained that the Swiss courts had violated his right to
freedom of expression and lodged an application with the ECtHR in
2008. In December 2013 the court ruled that Perincek was right. The
Swiss government then used its right to refer the case to the highest
level of the ECtHR. It is this so-called Grand Chamber that organized
the hearing on Jan. 28 and that will come up with a final ruling in
the next couple of months.
Let me be clear: I think Perincek is an ultranationalist champion
of conspiracy theories whose opinions I thoroughly reject and often
detest, and who has been convicted, according to me for good reasons,
for his links with all kinds of dirty businesses in the past as part
of the Ergenekon trial. But in this particular case he is right. He,
and others who share his opinion, should be allowed to say in public
that the events of 1915, as he put it more mildly and precisely at
the hearing, "do not fit the legal classification of genocide." It
does not matter whether you agree with Perincek or not. Also, the
ECtHR in its 2013 ruling made it explicitly clear that it was not
its task to rule on "the appropriateness of legally characterizing
the events of 1915 as 'genocide'." The court stressed that genocide
was a very narrow legal concept that was difficult to substantiate,
and was therefore open to discussion and a matter of debate. It is
hard to see how the Grand Chamber could come to another conclusion.
Despite my personal uncomfortable feelings about Perincek and the way
he uses his freedom of expression, what really worries me is something
else. Perincek had his moment of glory in Strasbourg, but he remains
a marginal figure. My fear is that the Turkish state will conclude
that its official denialist policy on the Armenian genocide will,
most probably, again be validated by the ECtHR. Mind you: From the
moment Perincek turned to the Strasbourg court, the Turkish government
joined the proceedings as a third party. Present at the hearing last
week to show support for Perincek were high-level delegations of both
the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Republican People's
Party (CHP). It looks as if this case has been turned into not just
one of Perincek versus Switzerland, but has purposefully been made
into one of the complete Turkish political establishment versus the
rest of the world.
With that mindset, a victory for Perincek will be automatically
interpreted by many in Turkey as a green light by the highest European
legal authorities for the traditional Turkish approach t the 1915
massacres.
That would be a serious mistake. Not only because this is a case about
freedom of expression and not about the correct interpretation of
history. Perincek is free to say what he wants, even if that makes
no sense to the rest of the world. But the Turkish government has
a fundamentally different responsibility. Especially in this year,
the centennial of the events, Turkish authorities should not hide
behind ECtHR rulings.
The rest of the world does not expect a dramatic U-turn from Turkey
on the "g-word." What many people do hope is for Turkey to continue
where then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stopped last year:
To go the extra mile in showing to the descendants of the Armenians
who were killed or chased from Ottoman lands in 1915 that today's
Turkey is sorry for what happened then and for the insensitivity
toward Armenian suffering shown by previous generations in Turkey.
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/joost-lagendijk/perincek-may-deny-but-turkey-should-not_371623.html
From: A. Papazian