Agence France Presse — English
March 9, 2007 Friday 4:25 PM GMT

Swiss ‘genocide’ conviction unacceptable: Turkey

Turkey described as unacceptable the conviction Friday by a Swiss
court of a Turkish politician for denying that the World War I
massacres of Armenians constituted genocide.

"It is not possible for the Turkish people to accept this verdict,"
the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement handed to Dogu
Perincek, the leader of the minor left-wing Worker’s Party.

Earlier Friday, Perincek, 65, received a suspended jail sentence of
90 days or an equivalent fine from a Lausanne court as well as a fine
of 3,000 Swiss francs (1,900 euros, 2,500 dollars).

At a Turkish rally in Lausanne in 2005, the politician had described
as an "international lie" that Armenians were the victims of genocide
at the hands of the Ottoman Turks during World War I.

Perincek was convicted under Swiss anti-racism laws, which were
applied for the first time over the 1915-1918 massacres.

The Turkish statement also criticised what it described as biased
coverage of the case by the Swiss press which it charged amounted to
attempts to influence the judiciary before the trial was over.

"We hope this injustice will be corrected in the future stages of the
legal process by the impartial and independent judges we believe
exist in Switzerland," the Turkish statement added.