SWISS JUSTICE MINISTER’S MEETINGS WITH HIS TURKISH COUNTERPART CRITICIZED IN SWITZERLAND
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 07 2007
GENEVA, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The meetings of Swiss
Justice Minister Kristof Blocher with Turkish Justice Minister Cemil
Cicek attracted heavy criticism in Switzerland. These meetings took
place on the eve of the trial of Chairman of the Turkish Workers’
Party Dogu Perincek for denial of the Armenian Genocide.
Radio Liberty reported citing France Press that Blocher and Cicek
met on March 2 and 3.
Swiss MP U. Loienberger in his interview to the newspaper
"Tages-Anzeiger" qualified these meetings as "scandalous", while
Swiss MP, member of the Swiss-Armenian deputy frienship group D. de
Buman called them a "provocation".
A day after the meetings of the Swiss and Turkish justice ministers, D.
Perincek arrived in Switzerland to stand trail for calling the Armenian
Genocide an "international lie" at a rally of Turks in Lausanne two
years ago.
In 2003, the lower chamber of the Swiss parliament recognized the
Armenian Genocide, which resulted in a tension in relations between
Switzerland and Turkey.
During a visit to Turkey in October 2006, K. Blocher said that the
Swiss law envisaging punishment for "justifying the genocide or
lowering its meaning" should be amended.