APOLOGY CAMPAIGN TO BE INVESTIGATED
BIA
tegori/english/112879/apology-campaign-to-be-inves tigated
March 3 2009
Turkey
A Heavy Penal Court has overruled the decision of the Ankara
prosecution to dismiss proceedings in the case of the campaign of
apologising to Armenians.
The Sincan 1st Heavy Penal Court in Ankara has opened the way for a
prosecution of the signatories on the Internet campaign apologising
to Armenians for the events of 1915. The controversial Article 301
has been cited.
The Heavy Penal Court has overruled the dismissal of proceedings by
the Ankara prosecution.
The Internet campaign was started in December 2008 and has resulted
in nearly 30,000 supporters putting their names under the text:
"My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the
denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were
subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share,
I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and
sisters. I apologize to them.
Ankara residents Hasan Huseyin Satır, Sabahat Ozgur, Mehmet İnal
Kolburan, Huseyin Erdogan, Serdar Orhaner and KurÅ~_at Karacabey
had prepared a complaints campaign and had demanded the trial of
the signatories of the apology campaign for "denigrating the Turkish
nation", i.e. an indictment under Article 301.
On 26 January 2009, the Ankara prosecution had decided that "even
opposite opinions are protected under the concept of freedom of
expression in democratic societies" and had dismissed proceeding. By
overruling this decision, the Heavy Penal Court has made a trial
against signatories possible. (EO/AG)