TURKEY: NO ACTION AGAINST APOLOGY TO ARMENIANS

International Herald Tribune
Jan 26 2009
France

ANKARA, Turkey: Prosecutors have decided not to take action against
organizers of an online apology campaign for the World War I massacres
of Armenians in Turkey, a prosecutor’s office official said Monday,
suggesting an easing of attitude toward free expression.

The prosecutor’s office began investigating the campaign after six
people formally complained that the apology violated the controversial
law Article 301, which makes it illegal to "humiliate" the Turkish
nation.

More than 28,000 people added their names to the apology by a group of
prominent academics, journalists, writers and artists. The campaign was
hailed as a sign that many in Turkey are ready to break a long-held
taboo against acknowledging Turkish culpability for the deaths of up
to 1.5 million Armenians and had raised hopes for a reconciliation
between Turks and Armenians.

A counter campaign on the Internet under the title "I do not apologize"
has attracted more than 65,000 signatures.

Article 301 has been used to punish statements deemed to insult
Turkey and to restrict free speech. Nobel Prize winning writer Orhan
Pamuk was prosecuted for statements on the massacres of Armenians,
but charges were dropped.

The Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s office ruled there were no legal
grounds on which to prosecute organizers of the apology by Turkish
intellectuals issued on the Internet, the official said — a sign that
the Turkish judiciary is relaxing its attitude toward expression of
independent thought.

The prosecutor’s office ruled that "in democratic societies adverse
opinions are also protected within the framework of freedom of
thought," the official said anonymously because civil servants are
barred from speaking to reporters without prior authorization.

Historians estimate that, in the last days of the Ottoman Empire,
Armenians were massacred by Ottoman Turks in what is widely regarded
as the first genocide of the 20th century. Armenians have long pushed
for the deaths to be recognized as genocide.

While Turkey does not deny that many died in that era, the country has
rejected the term genocide, saying the death toll is inflated and the
deaths resulted from civil unrest during the Ottoman Empire’s collapse.

Turkey and Armenia have recently taken steps toward repairing ties. The
two neighbors have no diplomatic relations and their shared border has
been closed since 1993, when Turkey protested Armenia’s occupation of
the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey backs Azerbaijan’s
claims to the region, which has a high number of ethnic Armenian
residents but is located within Azerbaijan’s borders.

In September, however, President Abdullah Gul became the first
Turkish leader to visit Armenia, where he and Armenian President
Serge Sarkisian watched their countries’ football teams play a World
Cup qualifying match.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress