The Inconvenient Genocide

[barryqwalsh]

EMMA ALBERICI: Let's change gears now. I want to talk about your latest book, The Inconvenient Genocide. It's about the massacre of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire in 1915. Is it still illegal in Turkey to recognise this as a genocide?

GEOFFREY ROBERTSON: Pretty much. It's the crime of insulting Turkishness under rule 301 of the Criminal Code and you can go to prison for it and some people do and there've been - it's quite ludicrous. You go to prison if you affirm the genocide in Turkey and you can go to prison if you deny it in places like France or Switzerland. So it's a hot topic and it's going to get hotter as we move up to the centenary, which has a particular resonance for Australians.


Lateline - 20 10 2014 Elgin Marbles should be reunited in Athens

 

[Delta4Embassy]

EMMA ALBERICI: Let's change gears now. I want to talk about your latest book, The Inconvenient Genocide. It's about the massacre of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire in 1915. Is it still illegal in Turkey to recognise this as a genocide?

GEOFFREY ROBERTSON: Pretty much. It's the crime of insulting Turkishness under rule 301 of the Criminal Code and you can go to prison for it and some people do and there've been - it's quite ludicrous. You go to prison if you affirm the genocide in Turkey and you can go to prison if you deny it in places like France or Switzerland. So it's a hot topic and it's going to get hotter as we move up to the centenary, which has a particular resonance for Australians.


Lateline - 20 10 2014 Elgin Marbles should be reunited in Athens

"French President Francois Hollande has said he plans a new law to punish denial that the 1915-16 killing of Armenians was genocide.

A previous law approved by the French parliament was struck down in February by the Constitutional Council, which said it infringed freedom of speech.

Turkey rejects the term "genocide" for the deaths of Armenians during their deportation by the Ottoman Empire."
BBC News - French President Hollande vows new Armenia genocide law


"Judges have agreed to a Swiss request for a new hearing into the country’s sanction of a lawyer who publicly challenged the existence of the Armenian genocide.

The 2 June decision will bring the complaint Perinçek v. Switzerland (no. 27510/08) to the European Court of Human Rights’ Grand Chamber for a final decision, following a judgement last December.

The applicant, Doğu Perinçek, is a Turkish national who was born in 1942 and lives in Ankara (Turkey). Being a doctor of laws and the Chairman of the Turkish Workers’ Party, he participated in various conferences in Switzerland in May, July and September 2005, during which he publicly denied that the Ottoman Empire had perpetrated the crime of genocide against the Armenian people in 1915 and the following years.

He described the idea of an Armenian genocide as an “international lie”. The association “Switzerland-Armenia” filed a criminal complaint against him on 15 July 2005.

On 9 March 2007, the Lausanne Police Court found Perinçek guilty of racial discrimination within the meaning of the Swiss Criminal Code, finding that his motives were of a racist tendency and did not contribute to the historical debate. Perinçek lodged an appeal that was dismissed by the Criminal Cassation Division of the Vaud Cantonal Court.

In that court’s view, the Armenian genocide, like the Jewish genocide, was a proven historical fact, recognised by the Swiss legislature on the date of the adoption of Article 261bis of the Criminal Code."
http://www.humanrightseurope.org/20...l-complaint-set-for-new-human-rights-hearing/


Turkey still seems to deny it. France and Switzerland don't.