PROSECUTOR LOOKS INTO CHARGING TURKS WHO APOLOGIZED TO ARMENIA

Trend News Agency
Jan 9 2009
Azerbaijan

A prosecutor in Ankara on Friday opened an investigation into whether
an online campaign by a number of Turkish intellectuals in which they
personally apologize for the First World War killings of Armenian
constitutes "insulting the Turkish people," the Anadolu news agency
reported.

The investigation will look into the "We apologize" campaign and
whether it violates Turkey’s notorious Article 301, which stipulates
imprisonment for those found guilty of "insulting Turkishness".

In order for any trial to go ahead against the authors of the
petition, permission must first be sought from the justice minister,
dpa reported.

A group of academics, writers and journalists set up an online
petition last month in which they make a personal apology for the
"great catastrophe" of 90 years ago and which is still considered a
taboo subject in Turkey.

"I cannot accept the denial of the great catastrophe of 1915 that
Ottoman Armenians were subjected to. I condemn this injustice and
acting on my own behalf I share the feelings of pain of my Armenian
brothers," the webpage ozurdiliyoruz.com says, followed by the names
of the almost 300 people who started the campaign.

As of early January more than 25,000 people had signed the
petition. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and military chiefs,
as well as opposition figures condemned the campaign.

The campaign is in direct contrast to official state policy that
refuses to admit that the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians in
the last days of the Ottoman Empire actually constitute a genocide.

Turkey says that while there were massacres of ethnic Armenians the
events were the result of a civil uprising during the war. A group of
former Turkish ambassadors have issued a counter statement declaring
the petition as against Turkey’s national interests.

Neighbouring Turkey and Armenia do not have any diplomatic relations
and the land border between the two countries was closed by Turkey
in 1993 in protest at the Armenian occupation of Nagorno- Karabakh.

A thawing in relations has begun in recent months with Turkish
President Abdullah Gul in September becoming the first Turkish head
of state to visit the Armenian capital Yerevan.