SWITZERLAND DETAINS TURKISH POLITICIAN FOR DENYING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
[...]
A new dispute between the two countries flared up this past weekend when a large number of Turks from several European countries and Turkey arrived in Switzerland to celebrate the 82nd anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne which marked the foundation of the Turkish Republic and reversed the ceding of lands to various nationalities, including the Armenians, as mandated three years earlier by the Treaty of Sevres.
Among the dignitaries expected to travel to Switzerland on this occasion were Rauf Denktash, former President of Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus, Dr. Yusuf Halacoglu, Chairman of the Turkish History Foundation, Dogu Perincek, Chairman of the Workers’ Party in Turkey, and several other well-known revisionists of the Armenian Genocide, including Gunduz Aktan, former member of the [...] Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission, Dr. Hikmet Ozdemir, Head of the Armenian Studies Department of the Turkish History Foundation, and Sukru Elekdag, former Turkish Ambassador to the United States.
[...]
At the last minute, Dr. Halacoglu had second thoughts and decided not to travel to Switzerland. [...] he had been summoned by a Swiss Court for having questioned the veracity of the Armenian Genocide in remarks made on May 4, 2004, in Winterthur, in violation of Swiss law which prohibits the denial, belittling or justifying of genocide. It is not known if Aktan, Elekdag and Ozdemir ended up going to Switzerland. They may have also changed their travel plans to avoid similar legal action against them.
Dogu Perincek did go, however, only to get himself in legal trouble with the Swiss authorities. He had already made denialist statements on the Armenian Genocide during a previous visit to Lausanne and Bern on May 7, 2005.[...].
Last Saturday, after Perincek told reporters in Winterthur that "the Armenian Genocide is an international lie," he was detained and questioned for several hours by the public prosecutor. Winterthur police spokesman Werner Benz was quoted as saying that Perincek was interrogated for denying the Armenian Genocide. A criminal probe was launched against him as he is suspected of violating Swiss anti-racism laws. During his questioning, he was accompanied by two Turkish lawyers and diplomats representing the Turkish Embassy in Bern.
Following his conditional release, Perincek bragged about his confrontation with the Swiss prosecutor. He boldly repeated the same lies about the Armenian Genocide the next day in Lausanne, even though he was warned by the Winterthur public prosecutor not to make similar denialist statements in future public appearances in Switzerland. Following his remarks, the public prosecutor in Lausanne requested that Perincek appear in front of him to be interrogated at a later date.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
A new dispute between the two countries flared up this past weekend when a large number of Turks from several European countries and Turkey arrived in Switzerland to celebrate the 82nd anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne which marked the foundation of the Turkish Republic and reversed the ceding of lands to various nationalities, including the Armenians, as mandated three years earlier by the Treaty of Sevres.
Among the dignitaries expected to travel to Switzerland on this occasion were Rauf Denktash, former President of Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus, Dr. Yusuf Halacoglu, Chairman of the Turkish History Foundation, Dogu Perincek, Chairman of the Workers’ Party in Turkey, and several other well-known revisionists of the Armenian Genocide, including Gunduz Aktan, former member of the [...] Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission, Dr. Hikmet Ozdemir, Head of the Armenian Studies Department of the Turkish History Foundation, and Sukru Elekdag, former Turkish Ambassador to the United States.
[...]
At the last minute, Dr. Halacoglu had second thoughts and decided not to travel to Switzerland. [...] he had been summoned by a Swiss Court for having questioned the veracity of the Armenian Genocide in remarks made on May 4, 2004, in Winterthur, in violation of Swiss law which prohibits the denial, belittling or justifying of genocide. It is not known if Aktan, Elekdag and Ozdemir ended up going to Switzerland. They may have also changed their travel plans to avoid similar legal action against them.
Dogu Perincek did go, however, only to get himself in legal trouble with the Swiss authorities. He had already made denialist statements on the Armenian Genocide during a previous visit to Lausanne and Bern on May 7, 2005.[...].
Last Saturday, after Perincek told reporters in Winterthur that "the Armenian Genocide is an international lie," he was detained and questioned for several hours by the public prosecutor. Winterthur police spokesman Werner Benz was quoted as saying that Perincek was interrogated for denying the Armenian Genocide. A criminal probe was launched against him as he is suspected of violating Swiss anti-racism laws. During his questioning, he was accompanied by two Turkish lawyers and diplomats representing the Turkish Embassy in Bern.
Following his conditional release, Perincek bragged about his confrontation with the Swiss prosecutor. He boldly repeated the same lies about the Armenian Genocide the next day in Lausanne, even though he was warned by the Winterthur public prosecutor not to make similar denialist statements in future public appearances in Switzerland. Following his remarks, the public prosecutor in Lausanne requested that Perincek appear in front of him to be interrogated at a later date.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 7:29 AM
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