TURKEY INVESTIGATES GROUP FOR ARMENIAN APOLOGY

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Jan 9 2009
Canada

ISTANBUL – A Turkish prosecutor has opened an investigation that could
lead to criminal charges against the authors of an online apology
for the First World War killings of Armenians, state-run news agency
Anatolian reported on Friday.

The state prosecutor in Ankara is probing whether the group of
intellectuals who offered the apology violated Article 301 of the
Turkish penal code, which criminalizes "insulting the Turkish people,"
Anatolian reported.

The group under investigation set up an online apology in December
for the "catastrophe" Armenians experienced more than 90 years ago,
a topic still considered taboo in Turkey.

Turkey denies allegations that groups of Ottoman Turks conducted
genocide against Armenians, killing 1.5 million beginning in 1915.

European Union applicant Turkey has promised to expand political
freedoms, such as free speech, and improve minority rights to meet
the bloc’s human rights criteria for membership.

Turkey changed Article 301 last year in response to EU criticism
and the law requires the Justice Minister to approve any court case,
but conviction still carries a jail sentence.

The group of writers, academics and other intellectuals set up
a petition at (We Are Sorry) that offered
Armenians a personal apology and called for the Turkish government
to acknowledge the killings.

The statement stopped short of referring to the killings as genocide,
a term strongly opposed in Ankara, but the army and Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan slammed those involved.

Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said last month that the online petition
could undermine efforts to improve relations with neighbouring Armenia,
with which Turkey has no diplomatic ties. The two sides launched
talks last year on normalizing relations.

Turkey in the past has prosecuted academics and authors, including
Nobel Prize-winning writer Orhan Pamuk, for remarks criticizing the
official stance on the Armenian issue.

Photo: Turkish writers, academics and other intellectuals set up a
petition that offered Armenians a personal apology for First World War
atrocities, and called for the Turkish government to acknowledge the
killings. In Ankara, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (pictured) slammed
those involved in the petition.Photograph by: Adem Altan, Getty Images

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress