Anadolu Agency
Nov 15 2004

Paris Court Rejects Lawsuit Filed Against Turkish Consulate General
In Paris

PARIS – A court in French capital Paris rejected a lawsuit filed by
”Committee for Defense of Armenian Cause” (CDCA) against the
Turkish Consulate General in Paris on charges that it denies
so-called Armenian genocide on its official web site.

The court announced that it decided to reject the lawsuit application
as the Turkish Consulate General in Paris has diplomatic immunity.
The court also decided that the CDCA would pay the court expenses.

During the hearing on October 11th, French prosecutor requested the
court to declare itself unauthorized for the case in line with the
Vienna Convention.

Lawyers of the Turkish Consulate General in Paris requested the court
to reject the lawsuit in line with the Vienna Convention and within
the scope of freedom of expression.

Rejecting reasons of the Armenian committee, the lawyers said,
”recognition of so-called Armenian genocide by French parliament and
the European Parliament does not constitute an obstacle in front of
expression of another view on the issue.”

CDCA applied to the court on July 7th to file a lawsuit with the
accusation that the Turkish Consulate General in Paris was trying to
convince French people to deny so-called Armenian genocide through
its web-page.

Claiming that the Turkish Consulate General should be punished and
its web-page should be closed, CDCA also accused the French internet
server company hosting the web-page.