Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
March 9 2007
‘No Freedom of Speech for Turks in Switzerland"
Friday , 09 March 2007
* Turkish Marxist party leader Dogu Perincek found guilty by a Swiss
court. A Turkish Prof. is on the list of the Swis court
A Swiss court found Turkish politician Dogu Perincek guilty on Friday
of denying the so called mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks
in 1915 amounted to genocide, the first such conviction under Swiss
law.
Dogu Perincek, head of the leftist-Marxist Turkish Labour Party,
called the branding of the killings as genocide "an international
lie" during a speech in the Swiss city of Lausanne in July 2005.
Judge Pierre-Henri Winzap sentenced him at the Lausanne criminal
court to a 90-day suspended jail term and fined him 3,000 Swiss
francs ($2,461), in line with the prosecutor’s request, Swiss news
agency ATS reported.
He ordered Perincek to pay a symbolic fine of 1,000 Swiss francs to
the Swiss-Armenian Association for "moral injury".
Winzap told the court Perincek was an "arrogant instigator" and
"racist" who had intentionally denied the genocide, which Swiss
public opinion considered "an established historic fact". Perincek,
like many Turks, argue that there is no proof for the Armenian
claims. Thus it is now impossible to reject the Armenian accusations
in Switzerland for anyone. Dr. Nilgun Gulcan names the new trend as
‘shut-up-and-accept it approach’. "We as the Turks cannot defend
ourselves bu have to accept what impose on us. Armenians accuse and
they argue that there is no need to debate the accusations. The
Western democracy is just for the white Western and Christian people.
There is no need to say more. The verdict clearly show how the Swiss
justice is just" she added. Gulcan also urged Turkey to cut all
official and unofficial connecions with Armenia. "Armenia is not our
neighbour. Armenia is under occupation of the Armenian diaspora. They
undermine Turkish interests everywhere and Turkey should also
undermine all Armenian interests anywhere. All illegal Armenian
workers must be deported and all flights should be suspended by
Turkey. We do not need Armenians." Mrs. Gulcan said.
The 65-year-old Turkish politician, whose party has no seats in the
Turkish parliament, was convicted under a 1995 Swiss law which bans
denying, belittling or justifying any genocide.The maximum penalty is
three years. However there is no international court verdict
confirming Armenian claims. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
called the Armenian side to go to the international courts, yet
Yerevan rejected the offer.
Twelve Turks were acquitted of similar charges in 2001. Perincek, who
submitted 90 kg (200 lb) of historical documents, argued there had
been no genocide against Armenians, but there had been "reciprocal
massacres". More than 520.000 Turkish and Kurdish Muslims were
massacred by the Armenian nationalist groups during the First World
War.
"I defend my right to freedom of expression. There was no genocide,
therefore this law cannot apply to my remarks," Mr. Perincek said in
his opening statement on Tuesday.
He told reporters he would appeal the sentence which he denounced as
"unjust and impartial" and "imperialist".
Prof. Sedat Laciner from USAK (Ankara) said "this kind of verdicts
will not help Turkish-Armenian relations or Armenia. The verdict
deepened Turkish mistrust towards the European Union and the West in
general. The EU’s biased and discriminative policies regarding the
Armenian and Cyprus issues streghtened the isolationalist nationalism
in Turkey".