TURKS TRY TO INTIMIDATE THIS WRITER BY THREATENING HIM WITH LAWSUIT
By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier
AZG Armenian Daily #150
25/08/2005
Armenian Genocide
While Turkish leaders are desperately trying to convince the world
that their country is civilized enough to join the European Union,
they are actually proving the exact opposite with every passing day.
Despite the fact that the Turkish leaders are supposed be on their best
behavior in order to impress the Europeans, they have yet to grant
equal rights to Turkey~Rs many religious and ethnic minorities. They
also refuse to return to Greek and Armenian charitable foundations
in Turkey their properties confiscated by the Turkish government
decades earlier.
In an attempt to fool the international community, on the one hand
Turkish officials have advocated the setting up of a joint commission
with Armenians ostensibly to study the facts of the Armenian Genocide,
while on the other hand, they have forced the cancellation of a
symposium organized by three leading universities in Turkey, thereby
preventing the discussion of this issue even among Turkish scholars.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has boldly announced that
his government is ready to admit the Armenian Genocide if sufficient
proof is presented, while Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is bragging
that Turkey has inundated journalists, scholars, universities,
libraries and parliamentarians worldwide with revisionist books on
the Armenian Genocide.
As the human rights of millions of Turkish citizens are violated on
a regular basis, it comes as no surprise that the Turkish government
is prosecuting Hrant Dink, an Armenian journalist in Turkey, for
allegedly insulting Turks in an article he wrote in his newspaper,
AGOS. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to a 1-6 year jail term.
Turkish officials and their agents are so used to silencing,
intimidating and jailing anyone who disagrees with them that they
dare to bully also their opponents overseas who are beyond their
reach. No dissent is tolerated!
This writer is quite familiar with the Turkish practice of suppressing
free speech. As the author of a weekly column that is very critical of
Turkish denialist and oppressive policies, I receive a lot of abusive
e-mails from Turks from around the world. Most of these Turks forget
that the despotic methods they practice at home to bully people or
force them into silence do not work in Western countries where freedom
of expression is basic right.
Last week, when a young Armenian lady, Maral Der Ohanesian, sent
a couple of e-mails to Dr. Sedat Laciner, editor of the Journal
of Turkish Weekly in Ankara, an on-line Turkish propaganda site,
complaining about the distortions in one of its articles, he
shamelessly accused her of “fabricating” arguments.
The JTW had cleverly edited an Swiss info wire story by including
revisionist statements on the Armenian Genocide and deleting criticism
of the Turkish position, thereby giving the false impression that
Peter Briner, the President of the Senate foreign affairs committee
of Switzerland, had made statements which he had not.
When Maral forwarded to me her exchange of e-mails, I sent a strongly
worded private e-mail to JTW, castigating the staff for accusing
Maral of fabrication when they themselves had distorted the original
news item beyond recognition. Within hours of my letter, the JTW
published on its front page a “press release” with the following
sensational title: “JTW Condemns The California Courier Publisher
Harut Sassounian.” Not happy with my criticism, the JTW resorted to
calling me an extremist Armenian and threatened that “the JTW will
start a legal action in California” against me. The JTW also posted
my e-mail on its web site.
I received dozens of e-mails and phone calls from around the world,
from both Armenians and non-Armenians alike, among them several
attorneys and judges, who assured me that there was nothing illegal
in what I had written to the JTW. Criticizing a publication is not
against the law in civilized countries. That, apparently, is not the
case in Turkey.
A reader from Canada wrote: “The prospect of a lawsuit against you
by the JTW in California must be extremely encouraging. They silenced
their own in Turkey. They try to silence foreign parliaments and now
they~Rre trying to silence an American journalist. It~Rs wonderful
the way they are keeping the issue alive. A lawsuit would provide
a superb opportunity for a US court to pronounce itself definitely
on the Armenian Genocide.” Another reader from Armenia wrote:
“Congratulations on being vilified by the Turkish press! It~Rs an
achievement, and I consider it a badge of courage. Keep on pissing
them off.” A fellow publisher wrote in his newspaper: “Turks have
unwittingly made [this writer] an even bigger hero.”
The real issue is not these empty Turkish threats. As we do not
live in Turkey, no one in this country is scared or intimidated by
such tactics.
What~Rs more important is that these Turkish propagandists had
apparently started celebrating a little prematurely. The JTW, quoting
Peter Briner, had gleefully reported that the Armenian Genocide
issue would “never” be taken up by the Swiss Senate. Dogu Perincek,
the leader of the Turkish Labor Party, who had been interrogated
by Swiss prosecutors last month for denying the Armenian Genocide,
also claimed credit for this false report. He gave a press conference
to announce that his outspoken statements on this issue as well his
testimony in Switzerland had influenced the Swiss Senate to withdraw
a pending resolution on the Armenian Genocide. Perincek called his
antics “a great success.”
Here is a more accurate report of what really transpired: To begin
with, Perincek~Rs bombastic statements not only got him in legal
trouble in Switzerland, but helped generate great publicity for
the issue of the Armenian Genocide in Switzerland and throughout
Europe on the eve of a decision by the Europeans to consider starting
negotiations for Turkey~Rs membership in the EU. Turkey then decided to
deliver a note of protest to Switzerland and cancelled the scheduled
visit of the Swiss Economics Minister Joseph Deiss to Turkey. These
foolhardy Turkish actions made the genocide issue even more newsworthy
throughout the world.
Erwin Jutzet, the President of the Foreign Affairs Commission of Swiss
Parliament reacted sharply to the Turkish bullying tactics by stating:
“Turkey has to stop reacting so sensitively to such events. It
would be better to recognize once and for all the genocide of the
Armenians.” Jutzet said it was up to Turkey to make a positive move
rather than “always taking offense and resorting to blackmail. If
Switzerland were to turn its back on Turkey, it would be a bad sign
for EU entry.”
More bad news surfaced for the cocky Turkish propagandists, when
Sen. Peter Briner denied having said that the Armenian Genocide would
“never” be debated in the Swiss Senate. He countered that these false
reports were “based on either a misquote or a misunderstanding.” He
added: “I can never be sure what will be on the Senate~Rs agenda, of
course, but right now the postponement of Economics Minister Joseph
Deiss~R invitation to Turkey will certainly be discussed” during the
Foreign Affairs Committee~Rs next meeting on August 23. At that time,
any member of the Committee could raise the issue of the Armenian
Genocide. Should that happen, the self-declared premature Turkish
victory could end up being a defeat, thanks to the boastful behavior
of Mr. Perincek and his band of incompetent propagandists.
Even worse for Turkey, the Swiss government declared that its law
against denial of genocide also applies to the Armenian Genocide. The
Swiss Foreign Ministry (DFA) issued a formal statement following a
meeting between Ambassador Jean-Jacques de Dardel, the head of the
Political Affairs Division of the Foreign Ministry, and the Ambassador
of Turkey in Switzerland, in connection with the proceedings against
Perincek. The Foreign Ministry stated:
“During the meeting, the DFA underlined the applicability of Swiss law
in this matter and recalled that article 261 bis of the Swiss Penal
Code stipulates that any person who denies, minimizes or justifies a
genocide or other crimes against humanity is liable to prosecution. It
is the task of the Swiss judicial instances to decide on the modalities
of the application of the legal provisions of our country.”
Despite the boastful and threatening statements emanating from various
Turkish propagandists, the fact remains that ever fewer countries
are going along with Ankara~Rs denials of the Armenian Genocide. The
Turkish officials have less than six weeks to come to their senses and
realize that they have to make a bold move on the Armenian Genocide
issue if they have any hope of salvaging their sinking prospects for
the start of EU negotiations on October 3.