PERINCEK BEFORE SWISS COURT, SUPPORTERS NOT ADMITTED

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 7 2007

The leader of the neo-nationalist Turkish Workers’ Party (ÝP), Doðu
Perincek, went on trial in the Swiss city of Lausanne for calling
the alleged genocide of Armenians in 1915 an "international lie"
during Turkish rallies in Lausanne two years ago.

Nevertheless, 160 members of the Talat Pasha Committee who traveled
to Lausanne in show of support to Perincek were not allowed to enter
the court hall, as well as the Turkish journalists who wanted to
watch the trial.

The Talat Pasha Committee, which aims at combating Armenian
allegations, is named after an Ottoman interior minister whom Armenians
claim had a key role in the alleged Armenian genocide.

Talat Pasha was killed in 1921 by an Armenian gunman in Berlin.

A Swiss official said the Turkish group — most of whom were wearing
red scarves and waving Turkish flags — should have had written
accreditation earlier from Swiss authorities to enter the court,
the Anatolia news agency reported, noting that meanwhile, a group
of Swiss and foreign journalists based in Switzerland and a group of
Armenians living in Switzerland were allowed to enter the court hall.

The trial, which started yesterday, will continue for four days,
the agency also reported from Lausanne.

Among Perincek’s supporters was Rauf Denktaþ, the first and former
president of Turkish Cyprus. "We’re not going [to Switzerland] for
enmity, we’re going to see whether we can lay the foundations of a
friendship … In order to be friends, parties should avoid insults. We
hope that cantons and governments in Switzerland eventually draw
the conclusion that a years-long smear campaign is not something
necessary for world peace," Denktaþ said on Monday ahead of his
departure for Switzerland.

If found guilty, Perincek will be the first person sentenced under
Switzerland’s anti-racism law for denying the alleged genocide. In the
past, a Bern court acquitted 12 Turks facing similar charges in 2001.

Turkey vehemently denies that Armenian subjects under its predecessor
the Ottoman Empire were victims of genocide. Facing a mounting Armenian
campaign to get international recognition for the alleged genocide,
Turkey called for a joint committee of Turkish and Armenian experts
in 2005 to study the allegations. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan
sent a letter to Armenian President Robert Kocharian proposing the
establishment of such a committee. Nevertheless, Yerevan hasn’t given
a positive answer to Ankara’s proposal up to date, instead arguing
that such a committee should be inter-governmental.

American historian Professor Justin McCarthy was also in Lausanne
yesterday in order to stand before the court as a witness for the
defendant. McCarthy has become a well-known name in Turkish public
opinion in recent years.

McCarthy said at the time that the source known as the "Blue Book,"
chosen by Armenians to prove their claims of genocide, was one
of the products of the British war propaganda bureau’s efforts at
misinformation during World War I. Turkey also argues that Armenian
allegations in the book, formally titled "The Treatment of Armenians
in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916," are not factually supported and
the book as a whole was wartime propaganda by the British.

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