PanArmenian News
July 12 2005
MENTIONING OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IS NO LONGER PROSECUTED IN TURKEY
>From now on in Turkey one can speak aloud about the events of 1915
without being afraid of criminal prosecution.
OSCE welcomes the decision of Turkey to withdraw from the new
criminal code the article that calls for criminal responsibility for
the mentioning of Armenian genocide. The idea was expressed on
Thursday in Vienna by the OSCE special representative on freedom of
media Miklosh Harazsti. The special representative expressed hope
that the review of the regulations in the criminal code will enable
Turkey to start negotiations on EU membership. Meanwhile it should be
mentioned that the renewed criminal code has not yet been put into
effect.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Turkish parliament has approved the amendments
on June 29, but the President has not signed the law yet. As it is
known, the amendments in the criminal code were initiated by the
Prime Minister of Turkey Rejeb Erdogan. This allows to suppose that
there will be no problems with the final approval of the document.
Two points were excluded from the article 305 which is entitled
“offences against fundamental national interests of Turkey”. The
first point prescribed punishment for calls for the withdrawal of the
Turkish Army from Cyprus and the second point that was excluded from
the text of the article prescribed legal persecution for the
mentioning of Armenian genocide. It should be reminded that the
reform of the Turkish criminal code was made not long ago, but at
that time both of the mentioned points were kept in the document
without any considerable changes.
However it is notable that Turkish authorities perceived the criminal
code article concerning the punishments for the mentioning of
Armenian genocide as a preventive measure rather than a punitive
mechanism. The thing is that throughtout the existence of the
shameful article in the criminal code there has been only one case
when an action was brought against a citizen who dared to qualify the
events of 1915 as genocide. Only the existence of the article was
undoubtedly a restricting factor and even the most objective and
principal Turkish historians and right protectors did not risk to
call things by their proper names and qualify the massacres of 1915
as genocide. At the same time Turkish authorities did not hurry to
imprison those courageous people. They preferred to pretend not to
notice their actions “offending fundamental national interests of
Turkey”. This was for example the case with the well-known writer
Orkhan Pamuk who plucked up his courage and shared with his
compatriots about the monstrous crimes of the Young Turks against
Armenians. The term “genocide” has repeatedly come from the lips and
the pen of the writer. But Turkish authorities did not try to
concentrate on that. The reason is clear. Erdogan did not want to
tease Europeans on the eve of the negotiations on Turkey’s possible
EU membership.
But for all that, the authorities brought an action for the
“propaganda of the invented Armenian genocide”. The thing took place
in February, however the “crime” itself was committed yet in
November, 2004. The crime consisted in the fact that during some
official ceremony the well-known attorney Madani Ayhan said, “In 1915
the Ottman Empire played a great role in the extermination of 1.5
million Armenians who struggled for unification and prosperity. I bow
down before the beautiful and oppressed Armenian people and join them
in their grief”. This is what was done by Ayhan who was called for
criminal responsibility fraught with three years of imprisonment.
While, in Turkey they agree not to imprison people who speak aloud
about Armenian genocide, in Europe they think of introducing criminal
responsibility against those who try to cast doubt on the fact of
Armenian genocide…