Swissinfo, Switzerland
March 10 2007
Swiss and Turkish press mull Perinçek verdict
The Swiss media have taken a critical look at trial of Turkish
politician Doðu Perinçek, found guilty on Friday of racial
discrimination over Armenian genocide comments.
In Turkey reactions were strong, with some newspapers condeming with
the verdict. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said it was "saddened" by
the trial’s result.
Perinçek was found guilty by a court in Lausanne, western
Switzerland, of racial discrimination for denying the 1915 Armenian
massacre was genocide. He was handed a suspended fine of SFr9,000
($7,336).
The politician, the head of the left-wing Turkish Workers’ Party,
came before the court after calling the genocide "an international
lie" during a public speech in Lausanne in July 2005.
Armenians maintain the mass killings in 1915 were genocide, a charge
Turkey disputes.
Under the Swiss penal code any act of denying, belittling or
justifying genocide is a violation of the country’s anti-racism
legislation.
The Turkish politician said he would appeal against the verdict.
"Doðu Perinçek had to be punished," wrote the Zurich-based
Tages-Anzeiger on Saturday, adding that Perinçek had deliberately
provoked the trial. It also criticised Perinçek’s "overbearing and
arrogant behaviour".
But it warned that the verdict was not water tight, raising doubts
over whether the appeal court would follow the Lausanne judge’s
reasoning.
Sense and nonsense
Another Zurich newspaper, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), had mixed
views.
The trial had not made sense because a Turkish politician from a
minor party had been judged on behaviour more relevant in his own
country, it said. In addition the trial had given Perinçek a platform
and blighted relations with Turkey.
But the judge had also delivered a consistent judgement, despite
being criticised for using historians’ views rather than medical or
technical knowledge, wrote the editorialist.
"Nevertheless, the government is still free to avoid using the world
"genocide" out of foreign (trade) considerations," it noted.
The Geneva-based Le Temps described the judgement as one on memory.
"The Lausanne judgement does not make history. It gives the Armenians
a protection of [their] memory that has already been recognised for
the Shoah victims," it wrote in its editorial.
However, the mass-circulation Blick said it was time for the
government to recognise the mass killings as genocide after the
Lausanne court’s "courageous" verdict.
Referring to Swiss Justice Minister Christoph Blocher’s controversial
attempts to revise the racism law, Blick said Blocher would be better
off recognising the genocide than changing legislation.
"If he keeps on, the other six [cabinet members] should at least show
him the red card for this totally unnecessary messing around," said
the newspaper.
For their part, Swiss Turks interviewed in the Basler Zeitung were
restrained in their reaction, with most welcoming the trial as a way
of opening up debate.
Turkish reaction
The press reaction comes a day after the Turkish Foreign Ministry
sharply criticised the Lausanne verdict, saying it ignored "freedom
of expression". In a statement, the ministry said the Swiss legal
system and the press had been biased.
"The court case was inappropriate, groundless and controversial in
every sense … The verdict cannot be accepted by the Turkish
people," said the ministry in a statement on Friday.
The Saturday editions of Turkish newspapers also had harsh words. The
nationalist press was particularly critical.
"Dishonourable Switzerland" screamed the headline of Gözcü, which
went on to say that the verdict was another proof of European
hypocrisy – Europeans underline the importance of freedom of opinion
but were quick to condemn it.
For its part, the right-leaning Yeni Cag newspaper wrote that
Perinçek’s verdict meant "the whole Turkish nation had been
punished".
Other parts of the media were less severe, but were still widespread
in their coverage. Hürriyet quoted Perinçek as saying his trial had
started a debate in Switzerland over how to judge historical events,
but that he would go to the European Court of Human Rights with his
case.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress