Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
March 9 2007

Perincek: ‘I have not denied genocide because there was no genocide’

Friday , 09 March 2007

A Swiss court has convicted Turkish Labour Party leader Dogu Perincek
for rejecting the Armenian claims.

Marxist leader Dogu Perincek, 65, was on trial for remarks he made in
a public speech in Lausanne in 2005. He was given a suspended
sentence and fined $2,450 (£1,270).

The Swiss parliament has labelled the 1915 killings as genocide,
however it ignored that more than 520.000 Turkish villagers were
massacred by the Armenian nationalists. Turkey firmly rejects the
genocide allegation.

Perincek, the head of the Turkish Labour Party, had denied the
charges.

"I have not denied genocide because there was no genocide," he told
the court earlier this week.

Armenians say 1.5 million of their people were killed in a so-called
genocide by the Ottoman Turks during World War I, either through
systematic massacres or through starvation. However the Ottoman
documents show that the Armenian population at that time was less
than 1.5 million.

Turkey says there was no genocide. It acknowledges that many
Armenians died, but says the figure was below 400,000.

Twelve Turks prosecuted in Switzerland on similar charges in 2001
were acquitted.