SWISS POLICE WARN TURKISH PARTY LEADER NOT TO DENY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Anatolia news agency, Ankara
19 Sep 05
Lausanne, 18 September: “Switzerland accused Turkey of committing
genocide without verifying historical facts and in a biased way,”
Labour Party (IP) leader Dogu Perincek said on Sunday [18 September].
Perincek took the floor at a conference on the issue of the so-called
Armenian genocide in Switzerland, where he arrived to give evidence
to Lausanne prosecutor.
It was learned that prior to his arrival to the hall to address the
conference, Swiss police warned Perincek not to deny the “so-called”
Armenian genocide. They told Perincek not to speak on so-called
Armenian genocide. The police also warned that in case Perincek speaks
on Armenian problem and in case this includes an element of crime, this
would be added to the ongoing investigation . In July, Perincek was
interrogated as he said that the so-called Armenian genocide had never
been happened. Lausanne Prosecutor’s Office called on Perincek to come
to the office on 20 September to interrogate him for a second time.
At the conference, Perincek called on Switzerland to make a serious
investigation about the Armenian issue. He said it was unjust to
declare a nation “committing genocide” without thoroughly examining
the events that had happened 90 years ago.
Perincek said Turks never committed genocide, on the contrary Armenians
– under the command of Russians – had committed genocide on Turks
who were trying to defend their country.
Swiss police covered Perincek’s speech and videotaped it to add it
to prosecutor’s investigation.
Perincek will hold a press conference in Zurich on Tuesday and give
his testimony in Lausanne Prosecutor’s Office on 20 September.
Perincek earlier had been detained in Winterthur city of Switzerland
as he said: “Armenian genocide is nothing but an international lie”
at a news conference, but he was released after being interrogated.
A legal procedure was also opened in Switzerland against Prof Dr Yusuf
Halacoglu, the Chairman of the Turkish Historical Society, because
of his statement refuting the so-called Armenian genocide allegations.