TURKISH COURT LAUNCHES PROBE INTO APOLOGY CAMPAIGN TO ARMENIA

Hurriyet
Jan 9 2009
Turkey

The office of the Ankara Public Prosecutor launched Friday an
investigation into an Internet campaign to issue a public apology
to Armenians.

Six prosecutors submitted a petition calling for a penalty for the
organizers of the apology campaign for "insulting the Turkish nation
openly" under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

The Ankara public prosecutor’s office started an investigation into
the issue following the prosecutors’ demand.

Around 200 Turkish academics, writers and journalists launched a
website issuing an apology to Armenians regarding the 1915 incidents
and called for people to sign on in support.

The efforts of the intellectuals drew fierce reaction in Turkey
and incited counter website campaigns, and exhibitions containing
information and photographs from studies conducted into the events.

Opening a file in the Article 301, a law that makes insulting
Turkishness a crime, requires the permission of the Justice Ministry.

Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million
of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915.Turkey
rejects the claims saying that 300,000 Armenians, along with at least
as many Turks, died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took
up arms, backed by Russia, for independence in eastern Anatolia.

The issue remains unsolved as Armenia drags its feet on accepting
Turkey’s proposal to form an independent commission to investigate
the claims.