Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 11 2009
Prosecutor says Armenian apology campaign does not constitute crime
A prosecutor in Ankara has appealed to the Justice Ministry to halt an
investigation started by the Sincan 1st High Criminal Court, which
annulled a decision making further investigation into the
controversial campaign to apologize to Armenians unnecessary.
Press Crimes Investigation Bureau Prosecutor Abdulvahap Yaren’s appeal
argues that the campaign does not justify a criminal investigation and
that the `criminal justice system cannot argue based on imaginary
crimes.’ It says there is no basis for an investigation under Article
301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). The appeal also notes, `In
Turkey, where the population is 70 million, only a fraction of the
people expressed their views, which cannot be described as criminal
activity.’
In January the Ankara’s Public Prosecutor’s Office had launched an
investigation into an Internet campaign apologizing to Armenians for
the World War I-era killings of Anatolian Armenians on charges of
`openly insulting the Turkish nation’ under the controversial Article
301.
Around 200 Turkish academics, writers and journalists had launched a
Web site apologizing to Armenians for the incidents and urging people
to sign the apology to show their support. The apology itself, which
was ultimately signed by some 29,000 people, read: `I cannot in good
conscience accept the indifference to the Great Disaster that Ottoman
Armenians suffered in 1915 and its denial. I reject this injustice
and, acting of my own will, I share the feelings and pain of my
Armenian brothers and sisters, and I apologize to them.’
Armenians claim that up to 1.5 million Anatolian Armenians were
slaughtered in orchestrated killings during the last years of the
Ottoman Empire. Turkey categorically rejects these allegations, saying
that 300,000 Armenians, along with at least as many Turks, died in
civil strife that emerged when Armenians took up arms for independence
in eastern Anatolia and sided with the Russian troops that were
invading Ottoman territory.
11 March 2009, Wednesday
TODAY’S ZAMAN WITH WIRES Ä°STANBUL
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
