The New Anatolian, Turkey
March 10 2007
The Swiss are creating a hero out of Perincek
Ilnur Cevik
10 March 2007
A Swiss court has fined controversial Turkish politician Dogu
Perincek for defying Swiss laws by challenging claims that the
Ottoman Turks were involved in an act of genocide against the
Armenians in eastern Turkey at the turn of the last century …
Perincek is also to pay compensation to an Armenian organization for
insulting them.
The claims of the so-called genocide have been a hot issue thanks to
the efforts of the international Armenian lobby. The lobby has pushed
for parliaments to acknowledge the so-called genocide from Latin
America to Europe and the issue is now a major area of confrontation
between Turkey and the United States where a resolution is pending in
Congress that would acknowledge the genocide claims.
So while the Armenian lobby has been pushing Turkey into
confrontation with other states, even countries that are friendly
have come to odds with Ankara over this issue.
But the Armenian lobby has not stopped its offensive. It has managed
to get some parliaments to pass another law that makes it a crime to
reject the claims of genocide. The Swiss Parliament has passed such a
law and there are efforts to get the French Parliament to legislate
such a bill.
The Swiss are supposed to be liberal people and even they have fallen
into a trap of banning a debate on whether such genocide took place.
So they have prosecuted Perincek according to this very controversial
law…
Perincek himself is no angel. He is a controversial person in Turkey
whose views are regarded as extremist and antagonistic. He is one of
these left wing people who have turned into an ultranationalist. They
are called "ulusalci" in Turkey. He has been prosecuted many times in
Turkey and has served long prison terms. He has been responsible for
Maoist publications and founded the extreme left wing Workers Party
(IP), which could not even get one percent of the national vote in
the last elections.
He uses his organization to hit at intellectuals and journalists who
try to advance liberal and reformist views. He is strongly
anti-American and anti-European Union …
But it is sad that the Swiss court has put us in a position where we
as democrats and advocates of freedom of expression have to defend
Perincek against this injustice.
The Swiss are creating a hero out of Perincek and are allowing him to
exploit the current situation. Isn’t this a farce?
It is time we Turks put our resources together to find a way out of
the current mess regarding Armenian claims and this offensive against
us where friends are turning into antagonists. Does anyone have any
innovative views?
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
