IN TURKEY, IT’S NOT A CRIME TO APOLOGIZE TO ARMENIANS

Tert.am
18:12 â~@¢ 18.01.10

Ankara’s Sincan 1st High Criminal Court recently approved a decision
not to launch a criminal trial against the organizers of the "I
Apologize to the Armenians" campaign, reports Turkish daily Radical.

The internet signature campaign ("Erminilerden Ozur Diliyorum" in
Turkish) was launched in December 2008 by four Turkish intellectuals
— journalist Ali Bayramoglu, Prof. Baskın Oran, Prof. Ahmet Ä°nsel
and Dr. Cengiz Aktar — and gathered 30,000 signatures.

The campaign message is as follows: "I cannot reconcile my conscience
to denial of and insensitivity about the great Ottoman disaster
the Armenians were imposed to in 1915. I reject this injustice and
share the feelings and grief of my Armenian brothers and sisters. I
apologize to them."

A complaint, filed by six Turkish residents, was subsequently
investigated by Ankara Public Prosecutor Abdulvahap Yaren. A case was
launched upon article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Court (TCK); however,
in January 2009, it was dropped, reasoning that, "In a democratic
society, opposing ideas are also protected under freedom of thought."

Though Sincan 1st High Criminal Court had backed Ankara Public
Prosecutor’s decision in March 2009, it only recently decided not to
launch a criminal trial against campaign organizers.