Turkey probes massacre petition

Story from BBC NEWS:
europe/7821159.stm

Published: 2009/01/09 18:37:06 GMT

A Turkish prosecutor has opened an investigation against the authors of
an online petition that apologises for the World War I massacres of
Armenians.

It could lead to charges under the law against "insulting Turkishness".

Turkey’s prime minister has criticised the petition, launched by more
than 200 Turkish academics and newspaper columnists last month.

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman Turks
in 1915. Turkey denies that it was genocide.

Discussion of the issue is taboo in Turkey and has led to prosecution
in the past.

The intellectuals behind the petition say they want to challenge the
official denial and provoke discussion in Turkish society about what
happened.

The petition is entitled "I apologise".

Police said on Friday they had information that a man arrested this
week was gathering intelligence and planning an attack against one of
the organisers of the apology campaign.

Police said he had recently travelled to several cities and made it
known that he was planning an action that would "shake Turkey", the BBC
was told by a source who did not want to be named.

The man’s uncle was reportedly among more than 30 people arrested on
Wednesday in connection with an alleged ultra-nationalist coup plot.

Documents found in the raids led to the discovery of weapons and
explosives in the forest outside Ankara, police say.

Some Turkish writers, who have promoted more open discussion of the
Armenian issue, have been targeted by ultra-nationalist Turks.

The Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink was killed last year for openly
saying that the events of 1915 were genocide.

Previously he had been tried for "insulting Turkishness" for his
comments on 1915.