Switzerland to Arrest Turkish Prof. for Armenian Allegations
Journal of Turkish Weekly
May 3 2005
(JTW) Turkey has strongly criticized a decision by canton Zurich’s
authorities to investigate a Turkish historian for allegedly denying
the so-called 1915 Armenian massacre. Turkey has never accepted the
Armenian genocide allegations, and Turkish Professor Yusuf Halacoglu,
the president of the Turkish History Organization, is no exception.
During the talk, given at the invitation of the Turkish community, the
prominent historian is said to have not accepted that the 1915 events
was genocide. Armenians say more than 1 million people were killed
during the Ottoman period but they cannot provide any convincing
document to prove their allegations. On the other hand, more than
523,000 Muslimswere killed by the Armenian armed groups during the
same period. Armenians in the Eastern Provinces rioted against the
Istanbul Government and many joined the Russian occupying armies in
order to establish a separate Armenian state. Armenians then started
a terror campaign against the Ottoman officials. The ASALA Armenian
terror emerged in the 1970s and killed more than 40 Turkish diplomats.
Winterthur~Rs investigating magistrate is now reported to be
investigating Halacoglu over claims that he could have broken
~Qanti-racism legislation~R.
CONDEMNATION
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Monday that the decision
by the canton of Zurich and some European parliaments to “forbid the
rejection of the Armenian genocide” was a “terrible mistake”.
Gul added that Zurich~Rs enquiry was also against the European
Agreement on Human Rights and that Europe was “trampling on its own
foundations” by stopping the freedom of expression.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that it had summoned the Swiss
ambassador to Turkey, Walter Gyger, to explain the move. The Turkish
embassy in the Swiss capital, Bern, has also protested to the Swiss
government.
It added, however, that Bern and Ankara were “closely collaborating”
and that Switzerland had been cooperative over the matter.
But a spokesman for the Swiss Justice Ministry denied that there had
been a warrant issued for Halacoglu~Rs arrest via Interpol, as was
reported in some of the Turkish media.
Winterthur~Rs prosecuting magistrate Andrej Gnehm also said on Monday
that he had asked Interpol to provide him with some information about
the historian.
He added that he would like to interview Halacoglu, which could also
take the form of written replies, to decide whether to go further
with the investigation ~V still at its early stages.
SWITZERLAND DOES NOT LISTEN BOTH SIDES
Dr. Nilgun Gulcan from ISRO said ~Sthe Switzerland authorities are
biased and pro-Armenian~T:
~SThe anti-Turkish trend increases and the biased groups abuse the
problems between Turkey and Armenia. They accuse Prof. Hallacoglu of
being racist and denier. In fact the Swiss authorities are racist
and denier of the reality. They do not even listen to the Turkish
approach. They cannot bear to hear different ideas. They decide and
they act. They do not event permit the others to speak. Europe is a
free land, but not for the Turkish historians. I am sure that if I
go to Switzerland they will arrest me too for saying the truth they
cannot accept~T.
TENSIONS
The row comes at a time when relations between the two countries
appeared to be calming down after a period that was marked by tensions
over the Armenian question.
First the canton of Vaud~Rs parliament voted to recognize the Armenian
allegations as truth, leading to Ankara withdrawing an invitation
for Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey to visit Turkey in
September 2003.
A similar vote on the Armenian matter by the House of Representatives
three months later drew fresh condemnation from Turkey.
Calmy-Rey finally made the trip to Ankara at the end of March this
year, which resulted in the two countries agreeing to disagree over
the Armenian issue.
And last month the way was cleared for Switzerland to begin selling
arms to Turkey for the first time since 1992 when it introduced tight
restrictions on exports to the country. The Turkish government ended
it embargo on Swiss arms on April 28.