Truth Still Banned in Turkey, EAFJD Says

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.07.2006 15:55 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Turkish Court of Appeal, on the 12 July,
confirmed the suspended jail sentence which faced Hrant Dink, the
Armenian journalist. Mr Dink was initially condemned in October 2005
under article 301 of the Turkish penal code for an article published
on 13 February of 2004. In that publication, he had called upon the
Armenians to "turn toward the renewed blood of independent Armenia".

The European Armenian Federation is highlighting this new incident
against freedom of speech as it occurs only a few days after legal
actions were taken by Turkish extremist organizations against Karekin
II, the Catholicos of all Armenians. His Holiness Karekin II was in
fact giving a pastoral visit to his flock in Turkey at the end of
June. During an interview with the Turkish press, when interrogated
on the Armenian Genocide, he had stated that ‘historians committees’
are no longer relevant since the "Armenian genocide has been studied
by scholars for more than 90 years".

After the declaration of His Holiness, and in order to protect the
Armenian minority from the threats it had received, the Armenian
Patriarch of Turkey, Mgr Mutafyan felt obliged to iterate the denials
of Ankara by stating that "the 1915 issue should be submitted
to historians and scholars from each side to achieve a better
understanding of the sensitivities of each side".

"It is now clear to everyone that beyond the usual attacks against
freedom of speech, Turkey targets specially the truth about the
Armenian genocide," said Laurent Leylekian, the executive director
of the European Armenian Federation.

"We hail the reaction of the European Commission against this blatant
violation of the right to freedom of speech. However, to follow the
process to its logical conclusion, the Commission should now assess
the Turkish denial policy as such, as it does for freedom of speech,
minority rights or gender issues. It is politically incorrect that
this criterion is left out of the assessment process and that it
is only skimmed over in the regular reports," concluded Leylekian,
reported the EAFJD press unit.