SWISS COURT FINDS TURKS GUILTY FOR DENYING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Canada.com
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Canada

GENEVA – A Swiss court on Tuesday ruled that three Turks were guilty of
racial discrimination after having claimed that the Armenian genocide
was an "international lie."

Ali Mercan, the Europe-based representative of the Party of Turkish
Workers, was sentenced to pay a fine of 4,500 Swiss francs ($3,900)
by the district tribunal of Winterthur.

Two others were ordered to pay 3,600 Swiss francs each for complicity
in the racial discrimination.

During a demonstration in June last year, Mercan had denied that
the Armenian genocide had taken place. The other two Turks were
co-organizers of the demonstration.

All three said during the court case that they were ready "at any time"
to organize a new demonstration and to take the same line.

In April, Armenia’s president vowed to redouble efforts to have mass
killings of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire recognized as genocide,
a label staunchly rejected by Turkey.

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.