Briner sets record straight over Turkey debate

swissinfo
August 11, 2005 9:33 PM

The president of the Senate foreign-affairs committee {Peter Briner} has denied he ever said that Turkey's massacre of Armenians would not be debated in the chamber.
[...]
The Swiss House of Representatives recognised the death of up to 1.8 million Armenians as genocide in 2003. But unlike many western governments, the Swiss government does not officially speak of "genocide" but of "mass deportation" and "massacre".
[...]
swissinfo: You say reports are false which claim you said the Senate will never recognise the Turkish massacre of Armenians 90 years ago as genocide. What is the Senate's position regarding those events?

Peter Briner: Those reports are based on either a misquote or a misunderstanding – and this is of course most regrettable. What I did say was that when the Swiss House of Representatives had [voted to] recognise the genocide, this was not an issue in the Senate.

The policy of our government – and the Senate foreign-affairs committee – is that the two countries involved, Turkey and Armenia, should investigate the terrible events of 1915 with a committee of historians from both sides.
[...]
swissinfo: So the Armenian question is still a topic of discussion for the Senate?

P.B.: I can never be sure what will be on the Senate's agenda, of course, but right now the postponement of Economics Minister Joseph Deiss' invitation to Turkey will certainly be discussed during our next committee meeting on August 23.
[...]
swissinfo: How would you describe Swiss-Turkish relations at the moment?

P.B.: They are normally good – we felt this when a delegation of the Senate foreign-affairs committee visited the Turkish parliament last September. Then a Turkish delegation visited us this summer and we talked about these things in a friendly way.

Relations have of course been strained by recent events but I think in the long run good relations will prevail. I think relations between the two countries will remain good and prosper as they have done in the past.

swissinfo-interview: Thomas Stephens

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.