Agence France Presse — English
May 28, 2008 Wednesday 11:13 PM GMT

Slovak foreign minister backs Turkey over genocide bill

BRATISLAVA, May 28 2008

Slovakia’s foreign minister said Wednesday he would lobby the
government over a proposed law making denial any genocide an
imprisonable offence, after a meeting with his Turkish counterpart.

Speaking at a joint news conference in the Slovak capital with his
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, Jan Kubis said he would take up
the matter with Justice Minister Stefan Harabin.

"I will point out to the minister of justice the sensitivity of this
issue … which can have an affect on our relations with Turkey,"
Kubis said.

"History should be treated by historians, not politicians," he added.

Babacan said Turkey had proposed a joint commission with Armenia, and
possibly third parties, to investigate the Armenian killings. "Without
any evidence, Turkey cannot accept any allegations," he added.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen died in orchestrated
killings during the final years of the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey says 300,000 Armenians and at least an equal number of Turks
were killed in civil strife when the Christian Armenians, backed by
Russia, rose up against the Ottomans.

Harabin is one of the main movers behind the bill, which would make
denial of genocides punishable by up to five years. During a visit to
Armenia Tuesday he said he considered the killing of the Armenians as
a crime against humanity.

Although the Slovak parliament voted the Armenian killings a crime
against humanity in 2004, the country’s law at the moment only makes
denial of the Jewish holocaust a criminal offence.