SwissInfo, Switzerland
Feb 10 2007
Couchepin addresses Armenian murders
Swiss Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin has ended his five-day trip
to Turkey by meeting Archbishop Mesrob II, the Armenian Patriarch of
Constantinople.
The pair discussed the recent murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink, as well as the controversial "Armenian question" –
whether Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Turks almost 100
years ago.
Couchepin’s visit to Turkey came at a tense time. On January 19 Hrant
Dink, a Turkish-Armenian editor who wrote articles referring to a
"genocide" of Armenians, was murdered in Istanbul. Eight
ultra-nationalist suspects, including the alleged teenage shooter,
are under arrest.
Armenians say Ottoman Turks slaughtered up to 1.8 million Armenians
in a planned genocide between 1915 and 1919. Turkey vehemently denies
that the mass killings were genocide, saying the death toll is
inflated and Armenians were killed in civil unrest as the Ottoman
Empire collapsed.
Dink’s murder prompted international condemnation as well as debate
within Turkey about free speech and whether state institutions were
tolerant of militant nationalists.
The killing also served as a catalyst for questions about whether
Turkey should pursue Western-style values such as free expression –
as embodied in its bid to join the European Union – or cling to
nationalist pride that views outside influence with suspicion.
More than 100,000 people marched at Dink’s funeral, many of them
chanting for Turkey to abolish a law which makes it a crime to insult
the country or the Turkish national character.
Mesrob II told Couchepin the 90,000 Armenians in Turkey were a
"peaceful minority" and Dink’s murder had triggered a sense of
unease.
He said he would like to see the Turkish authorities make a "moral
gesture" – admitting regret, for example, would diffuse the tension,
he told Couchepin.
Nuanced approach
Couchepin had previously said an important step would be the creation
of an international commission that would "examine the issues and
look for the causes of the events of that time – including the
massacre". The Swiss government does not officially speak of
genocide.
On his visit, Couchepin broached issues of freedom of expression and
human rights and said a "nuanced" approach in this area was necessary
for progress to be made.
"The negotiating partners should not be provoked," he said.
Before his return to Switzerland on Saturday, Couchepin planned to
meet four Turkish authors on Friday night.
Among the authors is Ipek Calislar, who went on trial and was
acquitted in December of charges that she insulted Turkey’s founder,
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, by claiming in a biography of Ataturk’s
estranged wife that the leader fled an assassination attempt dressed
as a woman.
Earlier in the week, Couchepin, who holds the culture portfolio, met
Atilla Koç, the Turkish minister for culture and tourism, in Ankara
and agreed to pursue a bilateral accord aimed at returning cultural
goods.
On Tuesday Couchepin met Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan,
with whom he discussed the Armenian killings.
He then spent two days in the southeastern part of the country,
populated mostly by Kurds, where he visited projects supported by
Switzerland.
Tense time