Deutsche Presse-Agentur
July 24, 2005, Sunday
11:57:09 Central European Time

Turkey accuses Swiss of disregard of freedom of opinion

ANKARA

The Turkish government Sunday called “unacceptable” the temporary
detention in Switzerland of a Turkish politician who at a press
conference in Winterthur said it was an “international lie” to speak
of genocide of Armenians during World War I.

The arrest of Dogu Perincek, chairman of the Turkish Labour Party,
was “completely inconsistent with the principle of freedom of
opinion”, said Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul in Ankara.

Perincek was arrested on Saturday and released after a three-hour
interview. Swiss police said Perincek had cooperated with their
request that he be interviewed by a state prosecutor.

His remarks about Armenians had been made earlier this year in
Lausanne, where on Sunday separate events were being staged by Turks
and ethnic Kurds marking the signing of the treaty establishing the
modern Turkish state in that Swiss city on 24 July 1923.

Turkey refuses to label as genocide the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of Armenians during forced expulsions under the Ottoman
Empire. dpa bi mga