Turkish objections to "Armenian genocide" yields results

25 April 2007
The New Anatolian
Ankara

It is not Armenians that Turkey is battling with, Turkey is battling with its own conscience. Therefore if Turkey wins its conscience will loose. Those who are helping Turkey to hide its own conscience will eventually have to answer to history. Because the truth can be buried but it will not stay there forever when the Turkish conscience reawakens.

Turkey is not losing its battle against the radical Armenian diaspora in all front as its latest diplomatic victory shows.

Last week the European Union approved a framework decision aimed at criminalizing denial of the Holocaust and other genocides following six years of intense debate. Attempts by the Armenain to qualify the incidents of 1915 as an act of genocide by the Ottoman Turks was turned down and were not included in the scope of the law.

The end product was described as a carefully-balanced compromise by EU diplomats, which allows EU countries to opt out of enforcing the law if national laws do not prohibit similar conduct. The bill authorizes a maximum sentence of three years for:

Publicly condoning, denying or grossly trivialising: (1) crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes...directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin, and (2) crimes defined by the Tribunal of Nüremberg...directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin.

Thus, the bill only covers incidents that are covered within the scope of the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction, such as the Holocaust and the 1994 Rwanda genocide, but does not cover events such as the alleged Armenian genocide or Stalin's purges and deportations in Soviet Russia.

The decision allows member states to retain constitutional language granting freedoms of speech and press. The decision also criminalizes publicly inciting to violence or hatred , even by dissemination or distribution of tracts, pictures or other material, directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin.

The International Herald Tribune quoted EU officials as saying the law was notable for what it omitted.

Fearing that the legislation could be hijacked by groups trying to right historical wrongs, a majority of EU countries rejected a demand by the formerly communist Baltic countries that the law criminalize the denial of atrocities committed by Stalin during Soviet times. As a political gesture, however, Franco Frattini, the EU's justice commissioner, said the EU would organize public hearings on the "horrible crimes" of the Stalin era in the coming months.

The scope of the law also does not cover other historical events, like the alleged massacre of Armenians during the First World War by Ottoman Turks, which Armenians claim a genocide.

France has recognized the Armenian claims and is trying to pass legislation that makes it a crime to deny the events as a genocide.

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.