Zaman, Turkey
Oct 21 2006
Austrian Turkish Candidate Stigmatized for ‘Genocide’ Denial
By Cihan News Agency
Saturday, October 21, 2006
zaman.com
A Turkish-origin candidate for a seat in the Austrian parliament has
been threatened since he denied the so-called Armenian genocide in
a statement in a paper in Vienna.
Mustafa Iscel, candidate for Austrian People’s Party (OVP) in the
general elections held on Oct. 1, said that he had been threatened
by Armenian lobbies in Austria and Germany after he told Austrian
daily Die Presse that no Armenian genocide existed.
Iscel also printed a flyer that read "Vote for us if you do not want
the Armenian bill passed" during the election campaign.
"People from both sides were killed in this historical event.
Independent historians are needed to clarify the issue and politicians
should not be involved in such issues," he told the newspaper.
Iscel went on to say that Armenians would threaten him till he resigned
from his party, also pressuring the OVP to remove him from the list
of candidates.
Late in September, three Turkish candidates were expelled from their
parties in the Netherlands due to their refusal to accept the so-called
Armenian genocide, ahead of general elections to be held on Nov. 22.
The Christian Democrat Appeal and Labor Party of the Netherlands
removed three Turkish-origin politicians from their lists of candidates
to run for a seat in the parliament after they refused to admit that
Turks committed genocide against Armenians during the World War I.