PERINCEK: TRIAL WAS NOT A FAIR ONE
Yusuf Unal Ýstanbul

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 28 2007

The leader of Turkey’s Workers’ Party (ÝP) Doðu Perincek, who has
become the first person in history tried and sentenced for expressing
the opinion that there was no "Armenian genocide," said Switzerland,
where his court trial took place, had been chosen by other powers
acting behind the scenes and argued that his trial in Lausanne was
not a fair one.

The fact that Switzerland, with its positive image in Turkey as a
peaceful and democratic country, took the lead in punishing views
differing with those of the Armenians on history came as a surprise to
many in Turkey. Why is such a country which has nothing to do with the
Armenian issue and has no serious diplomatic problem with Turkey on the
frontline of the debates, asked observers. Perincek, who has already
appealed the conviction to an upper court in Switzerland, told Today’s
Zaman that even some intellectual circles in Switzerland admitted that
this "dirty job" was thrown onto their country’s shoulders. "My court
case has ignited extensive debates within the framework of freedom of
expression. People should be free to make their own judgments about
historical facts," he said.

Perincek also claimed that his trial in Lausanne was not a fair one.

The translation provided during the court process was far from
sufficient according him. "Only the questions and my answers were
translated, apart from that all other conversation between the judges
and prosecutors were in French and I could not follow a word of it.

Besides, I brought so many documents to the court; books, reports
and some of them were official writings of some Armenian statesmen as
well. I do not think the judge has even bothered to read the summary
report of those documents. Obviously the decision was already made
when the trial began."

Meanwhile, Swiss Judge Pierre-Henri Winzap told the court that Perincek
was an arrogant instigator and racist who had intentionally denied the
"genocide," which Swiss public opinion considered as an established
historic fact. Perincek said he felt utmost sorrow for that calumny,
"I am the last person in the world who can be called racist."

Perincek says he does not care that his name went down in history as
the first person sentenced for rejecting the "Armenian genocide." He
says, "What it is more important to me is that my nation was humiliated
with this unjust conviction from the Swiss court."

Perincek, given a suspended penalty of 9,000 Swiss francs and ordered
to pay 1,000 francs to an Armenian association, said: "the Worker’s
Party has enough to pay such amount but we received a lot of phone
calls from all over Turkey for support. Many people and institutions
are volunteering to pay that money. This is very uplifting for us."

Dogu Perincek and his party will join with some other civil initiatives
and will be marching in Paris on April 14 to draw the attention to the
French and American governments’ attempts at passing Armenian genocide
bills backed by the intensive lobbying of the Armenian Diaspora.

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