PARTICIPANTS OF GLOBAL FORUM ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION SPEAK ABOUT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

OSLO
JUNE 8, 2009
NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY

"Law and policy of genocide denial" was discussed during one of the
Global Forum on Freedom of Expression meetings taking place in the
capital city of Norway Oslo on June 1-6 with the participation of
88 organizations.

According to the Marmara daily, participant of the meeting Turkish
historian and publisher Ragip Zaracolu has classed the events of
1915 in Ottoman Turkey as a "genocide". At that moment a person, who
had presented himself as a Turkish Embassy representative in Sweden,
asked a permission for speech and said, that in 1915 the Armenians had
been displaced not for being Armenians, but for cooperating with the
enemy. He announced that each country can pass such laws to provide
its security. Turkish Embassy representative’s declaration has raised
doubtfulness among the presents and has been criticized. Zaracolu
has particularly noted that there are laws in Turkey which forbid to
speak about the 1915 genocide and he himself has been condemned for
speaking about it.

The head of Jewish Holocaust survivor and heir group Yeal Daniely
told that if the mass media do not do their duty concerning this
theme, not only the truth will not be revealed but also the press
will promote the memory to disappear.

The representative of Oslo Holocaust and Religious Minority Research
Center Anton Wais-Went has noted in his turn that he does not believe
that the Genocide denial can be prevented by the decisions of the
courts. "The expectations are so great that we can have a real
disappointment if we expect the court to recognize the Genocide and
introduce facts," he told.