Swiss and Turkish press mull Perinçek verdict
March 10, 2007
swissinfo
The Swiss media have taken a critical look at trial of Turkish politician Doğu Perinçek, found guilty on Friday of racial discrimination over Armenian genocide comments.
In Turkey reactions were strong, with some newspapers [...]{condemning} the verdict. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said it was "saddened" by the trial's result.
Perinçek was found guilty by a court in Lausanne, western Switzerland, of racial discrimination for denying the 1915 Armenian massacre was genocide. He was handed a suspended fine of SFr9,000 ($7,336).
The politician, the head of the left-wing Turkish Workers' Party, came before the court after calling the genocide "an international lie" during a public speech in Lausanne in July 2005.
Armenians maintain the mass killings in 1915 were genocide, a charge Turkey disputes.
Under the Swiss penal code any act of denying, belittling or justifying genocide is a violation of the country's anti-racism legislation.
The Turkish politician said he would appeal against the verdict.
"Doğu Perinçek had to be punished," wrote the Zurich-based Tages-Anzeiger on Saturday, adding that Perinçek had deliberately provoked the trial. It also criticised Perinçek's "overbearing and arrogant behaviour".
But it warned that the verdict was not water tight, raising doubts over whether the appeal court would follow the Lausanne judge's reasoning.
Sense and nonsense
Another Zurich newspaper, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), had mixed views.
The trial had not made sense because a Turkish politician from a minor party had been judged on behaviour more relevant in his own country, it said. In addition the trial had given Perinçek a platform and blighted relations with Turkey.
But the judge had also delivered a consistent judgement, despite being criticised for using historians' views rather than medical or technical knowledge, wrote the editorialist.
"Nevertheless, the government is still free to avoid using the world "genocide" out of foreign (trade) considerations," it noted.
The Geneva-based Le Temps described the judgement as one on memory.
"The Lausanne judgement does not make history. It gives the Armenians a protection of [their] memory that has already been recognised for the Shoah victims," it wrote in its editorial.
However, the mass-circulation Blick said it was time for the government to recognise the mass killings as genocide after the Lausanne court's "courageous" verdict.
Referring to Swiss Justice Minister Christoph Blocher's controversial attempts to revise the racism law, Blick said Blocher would be better off recognising the genocide than changing legislation.
"If he keeps on, the other six [cabinet members] should at least show him the red card for this totally unnecessary messing around," said the newspaper.
For their part, Swiss Turks interviewed in the Basler Zeitung were restrained in their reaction, with most welcoming the trial as a way of opening up debate.
Turkish reaction
The press reaction comes a day after the Turkish Foreign Ministry sharply criticised the Lausanne verdict, saying it ignored "freedom of expression". In a statement, the ministry said the Swiss legal system and the press had been biased.
"The court case was inappropriate, groundless and controversial in every sense ... The verdict cannot be accepted by the Turkish people," said the ministry in a statement on Friday.
The Saturday editions of Turkish newspapers also had harsh words. The nationalist press was particularly critical.
"Dishonourable Switzerland" screamed the headline of Gözcü, which went on to say that the verdict was another proof of European hypocrisy – Europeans underline the importance of freedom of opinion but were quick to condemn it.
For its part, the right-leaning Yeni Cag newspaper wrote that Perinçek's verdict meant "the whole Turkish nation had been punished".
Other parts of the media were less severe, but were still widespread in their coverage. Hürriyet quoted Perinçek as saying his trial had started a debate in Switzerland over how to judge historical events, but that he would go to the European Court of Human Rights with his case.
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.
swissinfo
The Swiss media have taken a critical look at trial of Turkish politician Doğu Perinçek, found guilty on Friday of racial discrimination over Armenian genocide comments.
In Turkey reactions were strong, with some newspapers [...]{condemning} the verdict. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said it was "saddened" by the trial's result.
Perinçek was found guilty by a court in Lausanne, western Switzerland, of racial discrimination for denying the 1915 Armenian massacre was genocide. He was handed a suspended fine of SFr9,000 ($7,336).
The politician, the head of the left-wing Turkish Workers' Party, came before the court after calling the genocide "an international lie" during a public speech in Lausanne in July 2005.
Armenians maintain the mass killings in 1915 were genocide, a charge Turkey disputes.
Under the Swiss penal code any act of denying, belittling or justifying genocide is a violation of the country's anti-racism legislation.
The Turkish politician said he would appeal against the verdict.
"Doğu Perinçek had to be punished," wrote the Zurich-based Tages-Anzeiger on Saturday, adding that Perinçek had deliberately provoked the trial. It also criticised Perinçek's "overbearing and arrogant behaviour".
But it warned that the verdict was not water tight, raising doubts over whether the appeal court would follow the Lausanne judge's reasoning.
Sense and nonsense
Another Zurich newspaper, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), had mixed views.
The trial had not made sense because a Turkish politician from a minor party had been judged on behaviour more relevant in his own country, it said. In addition the trial had given Perinçek a platform and blighted relations with Turkey.
But the judge had also delivered a consistent judgement, despite being criticised for using historians' views rather than medical or technical knowledge, wrote the editorialist.
"Nevertheless, the government is still free to avoid using the world "genocide" out of foreign (trade) considerations," it noted.
The Geneva-based Le Temps described the judgement as one on memory.
"The Lausanne judgement does not make history. It gives the Armenians a protection of [their] memory that has already been recognised for the Shoah victims," it wrote in its editorial.
However, the mass-circulation Blick said it was time for the government to recognise the mass killings as genocide after the Lausanne court's "courageous" verdict.
Referring to Swiss Justice Minister Christoph Blocher's controversial attempts to revise the racism law, Blick said Blocher would be better off recognising the genocide than changing legislation.
"If he keeps on, the other six [cabinet members] should at least show him the red card for this totally unnecessary messing around," said the newspaper.
For their part, Swiss Turks interviewed in the Basler Zeitung were restrained in their reaction, with most welcoming the trial as a way of opening up debate.
Turkish reaction
The press reaction comes a day after the Turkish Foreign Ministry sharply criticised the Lausanne verdict, saying it ignored "freedom of expression". In a statement, the ministry said the Swiss legal system and the press had been biased.
"The court case was inappropriate, groundless and controversial in every sense ... The verdict cannot be accepted by the Turkish people," said the ministry in a statement on Friday.
The Saturday editions of Turkish newspapers also had harsh words. The nationalist press was particularly critical.
"Dishonourable Switzerland" screamed the headline of Gözcü, which went on to say that the verdict was another proof of European hypocrisy – Europeans underline the importance of freedom of opinion but were quick to condemn it.
For its part, the right-leaning Yeni Cag newspaper wrote that Perinçek's verdict meant "the whole Turkish nation had been punished".
Other parts of the media were less severe, but were still widespread in their coverage. Hürriyet quoted Perinçek as saying his trial had started a debate in Switzerland over how to judge historical events, but that he would go to the European Court of Human Rights with his case.
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 5:33 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home