Senate washes its hands of “genocide” question

Swissinfo, Switzerland
Aug 6 2005

swissinfo August 6, 2005 6:54 PM

Turkey’s massacre of Armenians in 1915 will never be an issue for
the Swiss Senate, according to the president of the Senate foreign
affairs committee.

Peter Briner said other countries had no business pointing the finger
at Turkey 90 years after the disputed events.

Briner said the committee had decided that the death or deportation
of 800,000-1.8 million Armenians between 1915 and 1919 would not be
the subject of a plenary session.

He said the committee agreed with the government that it was not
parliament’s job to decide on the whether the killings constituted
genocide. They have been recognised as such by the parliaments
of several countries, including the United States, France, Russia
and Italy.

The Swiss House of Representatives recognised the genocide in 2003.

The Swiss government however does not officially speak of “genocide”
but of “mass deportation” and “massacre”.

Briner said the committee believed that it was more for the parties
involved, namely Turkey and Armenia, to reach an agreement.

Disagree to disagree

Briner said a mixed commission of historians had to “work through the
terrible events” – just as Switzerland had reappraised its history
during the Second World War.

Attempts by international scholars to determine once and for all what
really happened between 1915 and 1919 have never got much further
than agreeing which two countries were involved.

In May a group of Turkish historians had to cancel a conference
debating the genocide after the Turkish justice minister accused them
of “stabbing Turkey in the back”.

In June Alev Kilic, the Turkish ambassador in Bern, told swissinfo
that during Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey’s visit to Turkey
in March, the Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul talked about
establishing a commission of historians from both sides and opening
all files and archives.

“But of course the proposal has also been made to the Armenian
government and we can’t establish anything without their agreement.

We have still not received a positive reply,” Kilic said.

Sabre-rattling

A week is a long time in Swiss-Turkish politics, but diplomatic
relations need some serious resuscitation after a miserable ten days
for the two countries.

At the end of July the Swiss ambassador in Ankara had to deflect
a barrage of diplomatic flak concerning the Swiss investigation of
a Turkish politician who had proffered revisionist views about the
Armenian genocide in 1915.

Then on August 5 the Turkish authorities postponed indefinitely a
visit to Turkey in September by Swiss Economics Minister Joseph Deiss,
citing agenda problems of his Turkish counterpart.

Few in Switzerland believe an inability to use a diary was the reason
for the cancellation.

“That’s a typical diplomatic excuse if you can’t think of a better
one,” said Briner diplomatically.

“The important thing is that we now show some guts,” he said. “I get
the impression that the Turkish government wants to placate its people
with this sabre-rattling.”