SWISS PRESIDENT UPHOLDS TURKISH CALL FOR ‘GENOCIDE’ STUDY

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Nov 12 2008
Azerbaijan

The president of the Swiss Confederation has backed Turkey’s calls for
a study of Armenian claims of genocide, saying the dispute over history
should be settled by historians, not politicians reported Todayszaman.

Pascal Couchepin is on a visit to Turkey on the occasion of the 80th
anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between
Switzerland and Turkey. He had talks with President Abdullah Gul
on Monday and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Parliament
Speaker Köksal Toptan on Tuesday. The lower house of the Swiss
Parliament accepted the genocide claims in a 2003 vote, causing
strain in bilateral relations with Turkey. Last year, Dogu Perincek,
a Turkish politician and the leader of the small Workers’ Party (Ä°P),
was charged with denying the "genocide" under legislation passed to
punish denial of the Holocaust, angering Turkey, which says it is a
restriction on the freedom of expression and debate.

The Armenian issue was one of the items discussed in Couchepin’s talks
with Gul late on Monday. To Turkey’s dismay, the Swiss leader defended
his country’s laws penalizing denial of the Armenian claims at a press
conference with Gul. He said the laws were passed 20 years ago with
the principal purpose of punishing denial of the Holocaust and that
the Swiss judges had the flexibility to interpret laws according
to different circumstances. Couchepin also referred to Perincek,
without citing his name, as a "provocateur."

"One of the people is currently under arrest in Turkey for
provocations," he said. Perincek is one of the 86 suspects in the
Ergenekon case, in which the prosecutors blame the shadowy network
for plotting against the government and seeking stage a military coup.

Perincek was convicted in a Swiss court in March 2007 under the
country’s anti-racism laws for saying that the incidents of the World
War I era could not be described as genocide. He was ordered to pay a
fine of 3,000 Swiss francs ($2,450) and was given a suspended penalty
of 9,000 francs ($7,360).

Couchepin and Turkish leaders also discussed efforts against the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey claims is freely
operating in many European countries. At the press conference, Gul
welcomed a series of recent steps taken by Switzerland against the PKK
and said Turkey was confident that Switzerland will implement them in
the most effective way possible. Couchepin said the Swiss government
had recently taken several measures and exerted efforts to stop the
activities of the terrorist PKK organization in Switzerland.

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