SWISS AUTHORITIES ARREST TWO TURKS FOR DENYING ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
July 2 2007

Two Turks were arrested over the weekend on suspicion of breaking Swiss
anti-racism laws for allegedly denying that the killing of Anatolian
Armenians in the early 20th century was "genocide," police said.

The two were arrested on Saturday at a conference in the Zurich suburb
of Winterthur, where posters were hung up and leaflets distributed
rejecting that the killing was genocide. One of the Turks organized
the event and the other was shouting slogans before a crowd.

Switzerland’s anti-racism legislation, which previously applied to
Holocaust denial, was used earlier this year to prosecute a Turkish
politician for denying at a gathering in 2005 that the Turks committed
"genocide" in the World War I-era killings.

Last week, a Swiss cantonal court upheld the conviction against Doðu
Perincek, the leader of the neo-nationalist Turkish Workers’ Party
(ÝP). The case of Perincek has caused diplomatic tension between
Switzerland and Turkey. Ankara has called the case against Perincek
"inappropriate, baseless and debatable in every circumstance."

Perincek was invited to Saturday’s conference, but was prevented
from entering Switzerland because he had not applied for a visa,
said Dominique Boillat, spokesman for the Federal Office for Migration.

Police in the canton (state) of Zurich identified the two arrested
individuals as a 57-year-old resident of Germany and a 51-year-old
Swiss resident.

–Boundary_(ID_yTAk08CuOp44UFoClSEf9w)- –